I need help I have a 2002 Corvette with a ticking noise and I know theirs a lot of smart people on here that know not about cars then I do so in the morning I get this ticking sound then it gets a little more quiet when it goes away I have a video but I uploaded it on YouTube so that you guys can hear the noise comes from the passenger side I’m leaving the link to the video here

 

Sounds like a lifter in your video clip. Did you try pushing down (towards the lifter) on any of the rockers while it was running? If a lifter has drained down, you should be able to make the noise go away by doing that. The one that makes the noise go away is the faulty one. Harder to do on torqued rockers like you have, but a good firm, steady push should do it.

 

I see a lot of cardboard and paper to prevent oil from splashing, but I don't see any oil! What is the history of this, did you get the noise and pull the cover? Is this a fresh startup?

 

I tried pushing down on and the noise didn’t go away but it did get significantly quieter when I push down

 

I have never tried putting cardboard on the valve covers I’ve only seen my friend do it on the his procharged Camaro and it was just so that the oil doesn’t drip down on the headers and creates a smokefest lol but I figured it was normal since his Camaro had the same amount of oil he only opened his valve cover to make sure his rocker arms and valve springs were still good

 

So is the video your car or his? Regardless, there is no oil pumping. Is this a fresh build?

 

No this is mine and yes it’s fresh build

 

You are not getting oil up top, what is the oil pressure when it runs? How long has it been run? Were the lifters submerged in oil at all?

 

Yes the lifters were left in oil half a day and all night prior to install I did also put a melling oil pump so the oil pressure at idle would be like 45-50 and while driving I’d say 50 to 60 maybe just under 60 and and at full throttle it climbs from 60 some to 70psi maybe a little more if I remember right not really sure up top because the only accelerations on the car was on the dyno

 

So this was run on a dyno prior to pulling the valve cover? What is the idle oil pressure when you made the video? Still confused.

 

Okay well about 2 months ago I put the car together and the car was fine didn’t have a ticking noise nothing at all then I had to wait 3weeks for a dyno appointment so I tried to perfect things here and their because i took off the 241 heads and put 243 heads duel valve spring cam and supercharger and oil pump so after I took it to the dyno tune I’d say like 2 weeks later it had a little ticking to it and now it’s a little louder I hope that clears it up a little

 

This is a picture I took the same day I took a video which was 3 days ago that’s the oil pressure at idle

 

Mine was making a very similar sound. Turned out was a spun rod bearing.

 

Dang that is some hefty oil pressure for a warm car. Mine is around 30 warm idle and around 20 after hard driving with a high pressure oil pump. You should at least have oil coming up through the push rods.

 

That's what mine is around but when i get on it, miine goes to 80 so that's normal, but what gets me is i dropped a lifter after replacing and put back together i had the same oil from rockers. It was barely any but i didn't have the noise you have. i didn't know if that was normal but i wasn't going to tear it apart agian so i made a decions just drive and what ever happens happens. That was 20k miles. im over 1k hp. Just sharing my story. GL

 

Have you isolated














Have you isolated what cylinder the Noise is originating from ??

Different cylinder heads. Did you check the Clearances on every Valve when the Rockers where installed ??

Did you upgrade the needle bearings in the Trunnions ??

Michael.






















w

 

If you pinched the O-ring when you put the oil pump in this problem is a possiblity. The oil pump will suck air into the system, you will show oil pressure but the air in the system will block flow to the top end

 

Have you figured this out yet? My LS7 sounded like this after I over revved it around 6 years ago. I was about 150 miles from home. If I would've been alone, I would've called for a flat bed. But wife was with me, so I drove it home. Turns out a lifter wheel seized, and I bent all 16 pushrods. Anyway, it sounded just like this, and the 150 mile drive home wiped out the cam. Still, I had oil all over the top end, coming out each pushrod. Are you running oil restricting pushrods? Even if you are, there should be SOME oil somewhere. As Vettenuts said, I see none. Were you present for the dyno run? Dyno runs are hard on the engine, and if you have oil pressure issues, they'll usually show up on a dyno run. Perhaps the dyno operator over revved the engine, and you now have a bad lifter. It is hard to believe you have that kind of oil pressure if there are air bubbles everywhere in the oil. Perhaps your oil sending unit is bad, seems to be a common problem. I had one go bad that read ZERO oil pressure, instead of the usual "buried needle", 130psi reading. Caused a LOT of unnecessary work, like once again removing the steering rack, the balancer, water pump, and timing cover to check the O-ring. Hooked up a mechanical gauge, and it read 45-50lbs at idle. Hope you found the problem, and if so, please update us on what you found......

 

yes I did figure it out it was the lifters on the the passenger side lucky for me when I heard that ticking I wasn’t running it at all and what I’m assuming happened was the assembly lube that was used when putting everything together which was the cam,trunnion kit LS7 lifters well the lifters I had them soak in oil for a day and a half before I took it to the shop that was doing the work and reason I say it was assembly lube is because I found a lot of it on the rocker arms and also all around the top of the head so more then likely it clogged just about everything it could and yes I did do 2 oil changes to try and clean the assembly lube when it was put together

 

How did you hear the ticking if it wasnt running? Assembly lube doubtfully caused any issues, of course there could be a first 🤷🏻‍♂️