blue_bomber697

Hey guys, my car went on the dyno today for its tuning and seating the rings and such. While on the dyno, the motor started "ticking" fairly loudly apparently. The car is 500kms away from me right now so that's all the symptoms I am aware of. They immediately slowed the dyno and shut the car off and everything seemed okay, no detonation or damage to anything that they've been able to see. They can't seem to find what's causing the ticking though. They are still tearing through the car, but I have plans on picking it up tomorrow on a trailer so figured I'd post here seeing if anyone had some insight on the problem.

Mods are: ECS 1500 kit, ARH headers, 0.005 bored cylinders with custom lower comp pistons, 416 stroked motor, machined heads, custom grind cam, dual nozzle meth, LT4 HPFP, LT4 injectors, dual springs, rods, DoD delete, etc.

Things they've checked:
All the Valve train (pushrods,rockers,springs etc)
Oil pressure(Multiple times)
Oil filter(Cut open to inspect,twice now)
Clutch bolts
Supercharger(Ran car with belt off to diagnose noise)
Leak down test
Spark plugs


Any ideas? They are currently pulling off the oil pan to check things out, next step after that is potentially pulling the engine. I just want my car finished and to have it back.

Edit: Other than the ticking at the end, it was running fine and smooth. Made 700whp on barely 8lbs of boost with hardly any timing and such. Was still at an extremely conservative point in the tuning.

John Harry

Exhaust manifold gasket leak, maybe?

blue_bomber697

How would that create a ticking sound? Honestly curious. I wouldnt think it would make a sound other than moving air if there was a small leak.

davepl

If it's on the manifold it'll tick once per every second revolution, so it can sound like a valvetrain or reciprocating part. A little jet of exhaust gas shoots out each time that cylinder fires and it sounds like a "tick" sound.

You're hearing the release of several hundred PSI of combustions gases when the valve opens, so it doesn't sound like the wind :-)

Shouldn't a Blue Bomber be in Winnipeg though?

blue_bomber697

Ah okay. Thanks for the explanation. I figure they would've checked the gaskets, but I'll double check with them.


And I get that reference a lot, my username is actually a reference to a game character, Megaman, I played a lot as a kid haha. Just never quit using the username since I remember it easy.

Toombs

Mine ticks really loudly as well. I had read that it is a normal sound from our direct injected engines, so I have not had it analyzed. I never heard/read that a manifold leak might be the cause. My performance doesn't appear to be affected, but the ticking is really annoying.

blue_bomber697

The shop is well aware of the DI ticking noise and it's definitely not that they are saying. It's much louder is all I know. I myself have not heard the noise.

NathanS

I have an LS1 car that started ticking loudly after a cam install. After chasing gremlins, I decided that it's probably the noise of the moderately aggressive lobes rapidly moving the exhaust valves. This kind of ticking is constant, was there from the first start and doesn't really change with temp or RPM. It's not very loud inside the car either, about on par with the noise DI engines make.

Does your tick change with temperature at all? With RPM? Exhaust leaks come and go with temperature as the manifolds and whatnot expand sometimes. You said the shop went over the valvetrain, but it might be lifters as well if one isn't pumping up properly. Or, maybe the pushrods aren't the right length - did the shop measure and install the right length pushrods with the new cam?

blue_bomber697

I would hope so. I paid Lingenfelter enough money for this set up and they had the motor for about 4 months.

Motor is potentially coming out of the car again tomorrow after further discussion with Lingenfelter. Car is in Canada, motor was shipped and built separately.

C7&7

Exhaust leak, valve train. That's what immediately comes to mind. Did they put a lash cap on the LT4 pump? If they did then I would be willing to bet you're hearing that pump bottom out and it is going to break completely off the pump housing. Do not lash cap the LT4 pump. I promise you...I have replaced 2.

blue_bomber697

No lash cap. And valvetrain seems like the obvious answer to me but they have checked it over. I'm kind of hoping they just missed something small while checking it over. I'll hopefully find out today.

blue_bomber697

*SOLVED*

The issue was found today. The round wire lock on the piston came out and made the pin slid out of the piston slightly. We are thinking it was more likely a part defect rather than an installation error given LPE's great knowledge and reputation.

It scratched the bore slightly but we don't know how bad until the motor is out again. Will need a new piston, pin and wire lock at minimum.

Looks like its going to be a few more weeks minimum before my car is back in my hands. At least it went wrong in the shop where it was shut down immediately and I can't be held responsible. Better there than at 135mph on the drag strip.

FYREANT

Glad they figured it out. For documentation purposes of any possible future issues, if they plan to reuse the same block I would first request thorough pictures of the damaged cylinder before reassembly..