Recently have heard a ticking noise from my 03 z06 (78k miles) sounds like it’s the drivers side I believe. My oil pressure is normal as well as idle sounding normal as well. Don’t hear an obvious misfire either. Sound goes away when engine gets to temps. I have read lots, injectors/gaskets/ lifters.

I have attached a video of the ticking noise

Lifters is my guess although I just did an oil change and levels are good, idle is good. And oil pressure is normal which would all contradict lifter tick.

I did the screwdriver check with driver side injectors (don’t have a long screwdriver so I used a normal one) and they sound constant which is what I’ve read to be healthy/good. I also have a normal idea and don’t hear an obvious misfire.

gaskets could be possible, however no idea which ones. To my knowledge heads and intake manifold have never been removed from the car and I don’t really push it that hard or too often I just normal daily it. I don’t believe it’s lt headers gaskets because it seems like it might be coming from a different area.

not sure where to go from here because car drives normal just makes a weird sound. And I don’t need a shop taking hundreds of dollars to tell me something isn’t wrong as I am a college student. Look forward to seeing what yall have to say/recommend

Z06Bevo/Braden

 

You indicated that the noise goes away after the engine warms up, what oil grade are you using? I had a similar experience with my 02 Z06 several years ago. There was a slight ticking noise coming from the passenger side valve train during warm up. I removed the valve covers and ran the engine to observe and listen to the valve train, the inspection did not reveal anything obvious. The ticking during warm up continued intermittently over the next several months. One morning while driving the car it began to run very rough, the MIL was set and blinking indicating a misfire on multiple cylinders. I drove the car home, pulled the valve covers once again, and discovered a broken valve spring on No. 2 cylinder exhaust valve. I surmised that the spring had been either weakened or cracked prior to the failure and (not obvious during a visual inspection) and this was the source of the intermittent ticking.
Since the car had just over 80K miles I decided to pull the heads and perform a valve job in conjunction with replacing the valve springs and seals. I also removed the lifters for inspection and so that I could inspect the cam lobes with my bore scope. I discovered slight pitting on the lobe surface of No, 2 exhaust valve and pitting on the roller surface of that lifter. I suspect this happed when the spring failed or perhaps during the period of time when it was ticking due to the weakened or cracked valve spring. Further inspection of that lifter revealed that the lifter's oil passage was partially obstructed with some type of fibrous material (oil filter media perhaps), this was the only lifter that was partially obstructed. I believe that the reduced oil flow through the lifter was the source of the ticking which subsequently caused the valve spring to fail. At this point, I also decided to replace the cam, lifters and timing chain with OEM parts. A visual inspection of the oil pump and unloading valve did not reveal any discrepancies, so the original pump went back in. After these repairs, the engine has operated normally with no ticking noises for the past two years.
Prior to this period, the engine operated quietly with oil temperature and pressure within normal operating ranges. I'm the fourth owner so I do not k now what type of maintenance and care this vehicle received prior to me owning it. I read about individuals that experience broken valve springs on this forum all the time and decide to just replace the springs without performing a more detailed assessment at to why it failed, I think that is a mistake.
I recommend you start by procuring a mechanic's stethoscope and try to localize the area where the ticking is coming from. Once you have located the area, remove the valve cover and inspect the valve train. If you cannot see anything obvious, run the engine with the valve covers removed, it will make a mess so be prepared with several rags. Good luck with your troubleshooting.

 

To me that sounds like a exhaust leak.

 

The requested Mobile 1 5w30. I’ll look into valve springs, the replacement seems pretty straight forward and do-able with my skill level of work. I might have a shop take a look and see what they diagnose and see if what they deem to be the issue can be fixed by me.

 

that’s what I thought at first but why would it go away at running temps? It makes sense of course when I accelerate I can here the noise but after a drive when it’s parked and I hop out while the cars still running and i can’t hear it?

 

Because the materials expand with heat and seal up the leak.

 

about to order speed engineering header gaskets (only $35 for gaskets and new bolts) as because those are the brand headers I have. Going to start with this. If not fixed I’ll test injectors and try replacing valve springs. Last case would be lifters because pulling off the heads myself makes me a bit nervous to be honest and I don’t necessarily have 3k to throw at a shop.

 

I second that. Sounds like a loose or missing exhaust manifold bolt.

 

update: new serp. belt, valve cover gaskets, exhaust manif. gaskets were done and noise is gone. Assuming it was exhaust leak or some sort of valve cover leak. Thanks guys

Also, checked valve springs and to my knowledge they looked healthy!