ErnieD

This is what seems to be the strange part about this issue to me as well. The noise sounds like just one lifter making substantially more noise than the others. The noise in my engine seems to be close to the cylinder number 3 valves, but the lifters have been changed and the #3 rockers and pushrods have been inspected with no apparent problems. It would be a lot easier to accept this noise as normal with a good explanation of what exactly causes the ticking sound, and why. If it's lifter clatter caused by cam lobe lift/profile, why don't all of the lifters make the additional noise?

bass mechanic

exactly, and to further the point, if it were a cause for engine failure considering from what i have read 99% of all LS7 owners have the same noise and not reported any issues i am going to run the thicker oil and not worry about it.
i also get the fuzz on my magnetic oil plugs which i know has to be microscopic peices of my engine internals. it will be interesting to see if using the thicker oil yields less of these particles.
if that is true then i can assume whatever makes the noise does wear the engine and i would suspect cause the noise to be louder with time and eventually a failed part.
my gut tells me the fuzz has to be more related to perhaps ring and cyl wear, or perhaps the lifter against the bore i described earlier.
maybe it's somthing else, i know the block is aluminum and i am pretty sure bearings are copper with aluminum faces, the crank is steel so there could be some microscopic wear there.
maybe someone with more kowledge than me can chime in?

anyway i cant help that whatever the ticking is, if i can reduce it with thicker oil it should be obvious on my next oil change.

augydog

I hate to mention this, but my LS7 doesn't tick but has a normal engine sound.

The only time I hear extra engine noise, is if I'm sitting in the car (not moving) and rev the engine to about 2500 ~ 3000 rpms and when it comes down to about 1000 ~ 1200 rpms, I hear a noticeable clattering sound (similar to ticking) just for a second.

Just sitting at idle, its a normal quiet engine sound, and when driving, I don't hear any ticking.

Hope mine doesn't start ticking since I posted this.

augydog

Six-Gun-Todd

All.

The long tube headers amplify the noise to a greater degree....and the position of the collector is particularly adept at reflecting noise off the pavement and exacerbating the noise even more. It's the price you pay for an awesome exhaust tone and a fatter torque curve.

I've torn the top half of the motor apart looking for a possible internal cause and there isn't one.....everything is well within factory spec. For those you just can't live with the sound I suggest an exhaust wrap to help muffle the ticking.

BrokerDon

Thanks for EVERYBODY'S suggestions... AWESOME!

I met with the dealer's mechanic and the service advisor for 30 minutes and went through all the suggestions presented here. The mechanic admitted he doesn't know WHAT is causing the TICKing so:

1) he's going to discuss it at his dinner with GM engineers tonight

2) the service advisor is contacting the GMPP rep to come out again

3) GM Customer Service left me a voicemail last night saying our District Specialist ("Fancy") 866-790-5600 x11043 would be contacting me today

Here is some feedback on all your suggestions:

Valve Guides BELLMOUTHed & NEEDLE BEARINGS: New heads, lifters, rockers & valves installed under GMPP warranty about 500 miles ago because the valves were wobbly (i.e. valve guides were BELLMOUTHED)... No change in TICKing

DRY SUMP TICKing wasn't "coming from the passenger glovebox" but TSB repairs made anyway... Still TICKing

Short Duration Lifter Tick Noise On Cold Start Noise is not only during COLD start... Its all the time. Also this was for 2007 - 2009 models... Mines a 2006. I discussed this with the dealers mechanic and because my car doesn't fall within the model range AND the sound isn't just when cold GM won't do this procedure. GREAT TIP though... Maybe the GM Region Customer Rep will authorize this.

TRY a syntetic 10w40 oil or 10w 30 "i asked if there was any solution and he suggested running 15w50 mobile one. he said many guys who run on the track run that weight oil without issue. i made note of my oil pressure with 20% remaining on the change interval running 5w30 i was getting 29psi at idle and 200 degree oil temp. i switched to the 15w50 and the noise is 95% gone when cold and about 85% gone when hot. now i get 41PSI at idle with 200 degrees oil temp." GREAT idea... only need GM's agreement this won't void my GMPP warranty. Personally I think its a "no brainer" since I live HOT sunny SoCal so this car has never seen and probably never will see cold weather. Coldest it gets here is 50ºF 8-)

Turns out it had a bad lifter and it ruined the cam Hmmm. Makes sense to me but the Chevy mechanic said just yesterday it doesn't SOUND like a bad cam... But he was honest and admitted he doesn't know WHAT is causing the TICKing so he's going to discuss it at his dinner with GM engineers tonight.

TICKING is in all Z06s "We then took another available Z06 for the same ride and, to my surprise, this engine made the same sound as mine. I thought mine was louder, but, nonetheless, the sounds were the same -- sounds like a single lifter making substantially more noise than the rest." The TICKING is NOT in all Z06's! Actually, that's what really got me started on getting this resolved after being told this sound was "normal". A buddy of mine asked me to test drive a 2007 Z06 with 19k miles at this dealership before he bought it. It absolutely positively did (and does) NOT make this noise so I took mine to this same dealers service dept., ran both motors back-to-back and the TICKing was perfectly obvious to everybody. The fact there they demonstrated it happened on another Z06 doesn't means its on "all" of them and/or its "normal". As I remember, my Z06 only started to do this around 20k miles so SOMETHING changed inside the motor.

Long Tube Headers 100% stock motor & exhaust

TICK TICK TICK, you know what comes next..BOOM My thoughts exactly... and what I've told GM. Seems it would be better Customer Service to fix this problem before it goes THERMONUCLEAR requiring a complete new motor but what do I know?

Constant TICKing "I think alot of you guys are not understanding the OP's post/question. He is not complaining about the constant tick that ls motors make when running. His problem is that his car makes loud ticking only at 1,500-2,000 rpm's then goes away. My car does the same and I am also trying to figure out what it may be." You're correct, my ticking isn't constant from what I can tell... Although when the LS7 gets into higher revs it may be masking this noise but I don't think so. So to CONFIRM the TICKing is only at 1,500-2,000 rpm's then goes away when the RPMs go above or below this range. Driving at 1,500-2,000 RPMs (fuel efficient cruising between rapturous heavy throttle blasts) with the CONSTANT TICK TICK TICK TICK in this RPM range isn't acceptable for this 3-time Corvette buyer driving a brand new Z06... GM's most expensive ($75k+) premier vehicle.

Again, THANKS A MILLION FOR ALL YOUR SUGGESTIONS. I sure wish there was a way to get in touch with someone at Bowling Green... When I went to the BG website and posted my issue they bounced me back to my dealer and the Chevy Customer Care 800 number 8-(. I'd spoke with Corvette's Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter at a big Corvette event and he was a pleasure to talk to. I'm sure if he knew about my issues I'd be making faster progress towards a resolution...

TARANTULA

My car has the same noise is a 2009 with 3.8k. Bough car new 3 months ago had the noise since day one. (1500 to 2000 RPM's) only

JoesC5

Another Z06 that does not have a ticking sound. In fact, my engine is very quiet.

AlsZ06

Same type of noise on my '06. I've had it for four years. I took it up with several dealers when it was new but they were clueless.

JJC5

It almost sounds like piston slap as in LS1 and LS6 although I've heard of no documented findings of that in the LS7.

ErnieD

Maybe someone with one of the "noisy" Z06's has sent an oil sample off for analysis and wouldn't mind sharing the results here. Any unusual wear components would have been reported.

Turbooo2u

I replaced 2 quarts of 5-30 with 15-50 Mobil 1. This seemed to help a little.

TARANTULA

Next week

s4k4zulu

subcribed

ErnieD

Any further news on this yet, Don?

JustinStrife

Sounds just like what my high mile blown Ls1 is doing now. Sewing machine noise from 1500-2000 rpms and at start up and it's been driving me crazy.

Would be nice if it was something cheap as I've spent a $$$ on this car in the past 18 months and am broke since my hours got cut.

Subscribing for possible solutions..

Paul_in_Germany

I changed my oil Saturday from Mobil 1 5w-30 to Mobil 1 10w-40 and it seemed to help quite a bit. Maybe next spring I'll go to a 15 weight.

Off topic, also flushed my clutch fluid yesterday using the Ranger method. What a simple thing! Took 5 flushes to get the line clean, but all-in-all, maybe 30 minutes and half a bottle of DOT-4. Drape a towel over your fender if you do this -- brake fluid's corrosive to paint. Haven't noticed any difference in shifting, but I feel better knowing my clutch fluid's clean. That in itself is worth 30 minutes any time.

Ranger's excellent instructions:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...al-issues.html

BrokerDon

Well, here's the latest. Dealer had my Z06 for 10 days this last time waiting for GMPP to authorize repair to VERIFIED and pronounced "TICK TICK TICK" at 1,500 to 2,000 rpms AFTER heads had been replaced. Dealer mechanic said he had absolutely no idea what was causing this ticking but admitted its not right... Just needed GM engineer to advise. GM engineer promised to come by but after a WEEK called and said he WASN'T coming by since his research indicated this noise was "normal on a few Z06 motors" and GM + GMPP weren't going to do anything about it until I had an actual performance issue or engine failure. WTF? What's the point of paying GM $5,000 for a $0 deductible 6 year / 72,000 mile extended warranty if they're not going to FIX a problem?!

Dealer advises i complain LOUDLY to GMPP who he says is now a separate company from GM after GM's bankruptcy. GM won't look at my car, dealer won't do any more work on it since GMPP won't authorize any work on this issue and GM won't give me the time of day.

Needless to say, this really STINKS after paying $75,000 for a new Z06 and only 36,000 miles later GM won't fix it.

Suggestions?

blaine123

I decided not to lose any sleep over the LONG list of potential problems with the LS7 motor.

My Z is a 2006 with about 11k miles and it is quiet.. at least to me. No unusual push rod motor noises. 2003+ Cobra owners complain about the same type of tap tap tap tap noise with their motors... it was their fuel injectors clicking. But some of the 2003's had bad valve guides which also caused it.

"IF" and "WHEN" it goes boom.... the Z06 gets a new built motor with the LSX heads.

Jasil

I've had my reservations about the LS7 from the get go mine ticks and it increases with rpm seems too loud to may, but I have to just trust that statistics say it is fine.

Fuzz on the magnetic drain plug....I get that too. Multiple stories of Blown LS7's I know a few of them too.

My car has been fine with 6k miles on the clock tick tick and no major issues......I'll just keep knocking on wood.

NJLS708

Listen guys, I have 25,000 miles on my supercharged LS7 and it makes just a shade under 700rwhp. I never heard the tick tick tick until I changed the headers on the car and that was at about 3,000 miles. So it has been ticking now for 22,000 miles. The way I use my car and and the power that it is making I feel I am already getting more out of the stock block and heads than I thought I would so this is just bonus time for me. Trust me when I say the ticking noise is nothing to worry about. If anyone is in NJ and wants to come for a ride I will take you for a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gear pull and you can tell me if there is anything wrong with my motor. I don't know if anyone has covered this but the ticking is there throughout the RPM range. Not just 1500-2000. Just a matter of the exhaust and engine noise drowning out the tapping over 2,000 rpm.