Hey folks, new to the forums and I thought I'd share a problem I was looking into in case the solution helps anyone.

I noticed a ticking noise the other day, but I dismissed it as something that probably had always been there, given the typical sewing machine sounds of the LS1. After a few more drives, I was getting pretty sure that it wasn't supposed to be there, so I decided to take a look. Here's a video of the noise.


I thought of a few culprits, like an exhaust leak or lifter noise, but the most obvious answer was a loose spark plug because I had changed those a few months ago. Maybe I just didn't notice the noise until now. However, I was pretty meticulous about the torque on the plugs, so I didn't check them immediately because I was sure they were tightened correctly.

This weekend, I decided to check the plugs anyway. To my surprise, I found that all 8 of the plugs were more loose than they should have been. I must have been a little bit too liberal with the anti-seize, so I cleaned up the extra and tightened them all back to the spec of about 11 ft-lbs. No more noise.

Moral of the story: 1) it's usually the most obvious answer even if you don't think it is, and 2) don't use too much anti-seize on spark plugs.