Ticking sounds...

i know!

your lifters!
get it fixed fast.

Put some lucas engine honey in the oil and see if the noise quiets down. If it does, your lifters are sticking. Which really isn't a HUGE problem. You would be better off leaving it alone because tearing into the heads would cost tons of labor.

If you live in a place that stays pretty warm try a 20W50 oil... your lifters are probably dry. Same thing happened on my stang last summer, switched to a heavier weight oil and the sound went away somewhat.

Just make sure you don't have 20W50 oil in the engine when you first start it on a really cold day... like colder than 40*F, else theres a high risk of blowing your oil pump and head gaskets At least try running it for a month or two, as it may solve the problem.

If its a ticking sound and not a hollow tube pffting sound, it's not the header gasket.

SilverBullet00 said:

That hurts.....

So you guys seem to think its something with the valves and not a header to head leak? Is there any way I can somehow test for a header leak to rule it out for sure?

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Honestly, I think you have an exhaust leak. That is much more likely than a bad lifter. But thicker oil/ engine honey is one way to find out if the problem is in the heads. A blown head gasket would be very noticeable. It would burn lots of coolant, poor white smoke from the exhaust, and your oil would look milky. Try some thicker oil and see if it quiets down some. If not, start looking for an exhaust leak with seafoam or soapy water.

I had the same problem, but mine was all the way through the rpm's. Mine was 4 bent intake valves and 2 bent exhaust valves. A broken valve guide and no. 1 piston with a chip taken out of it. LOL hope thats not your problem

My header gasket was leaking last month and it was a simular experiance. At idle or revving you really coulnt hear anything, but if I hadf the windows UP and everything off and give it some gas at low RPM I could hear it. After a while it blew out more and more and I could hear it all the time. Replaced it not too long ago....but my header bolt was backed way out and another next to it was loose.

Another thing it was doing, was there was a black mark on the head from the leak....yours will have the same if its a header leak. Definatly wasnt a random sound as it was mainly just #1 cylinder that had the issue...but changed with RPMs.

SilverBullet00 said:

maybe a better description of the sound would be it sounds like rice cispys. After listening to it more last night its a more random sound. I guess I will add engine honey and see if that helps and go from there..

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Is it a softer more precise sound, or loud, like a huge clock? I think you are just hearing the injectors clicking...

SilverBullet00 said:

you have to roll your windows down to hear it; injectors make sense, but what would cause them to sound different now?

Diagnosing strange sounds suck....

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Yea, the injectors wouldn't be loud enough to where you could hear them with the windows up. Is the sound related to engine temp? If the sound only occurs when the engine is warm, it's most likely an exhaust leak. If the noise quiets down as the engine warms up, it could be the lifters. This is because the oil gets thicker as the engine warms up, and quiets them down. I still think you are hearing the exhaust leak. If you have a stethoscope you can use it to find the noise more easily.