Very quiet ticking noise from engine compartment. Any Ideas?

Ever since I bought the car there has been a slight ticking sound from the engine compartment. It's fairly quiet and to hear it you have to sit still, and turn all hvac controls off. It seems to be more pronounced in the cold, but happens all the time EXCEPT after driving the car hard. It happens at all engine temps also. I've put some lucas injector cleaner in with no change. I also change the oil every 5000 miles or so, and run exclusively mobil 1 synthetic which the previous owner also ran. It doesn't seem to be a lifter but that's just a guess. Has anyone had a similar issue? It doesn't seem to be hurting anything, it's just unnerving to hear. If you guys have any ideas on what it could be I would appreciate it. Also any recommendations to narrow the cause down would be great too. Thanks, Kyle.

Maybe an exhaust leak? The flex in my 3" DP ticks when its cold but gets quieter as the operating temp warms up.

anyway to check it? You have to be inside the car to hear the ticking. Otherwise you can't tell it's even doing it. Think it could be an injector or lifter?

GMFreak8 wrote:

anyway to check it? You have to be inside the car to hear the ticking. Otherwise you can't tell it's even doing it. Think it could be an injector or lifter?

It could be a lifter as well, try taking a screwdriver to your ear and placing it on the valve covers to see if the noise seems to be coming from there. Be sure to stay clear of the belts and alternator while doing this though. It would be helpful to try and get a video to narrow down the noise, but it seems unlikely that it would be valvetrain related if you had to be inside the car to hear it.

Can you tell if the tick occurs at every cylinder fire, once every crank revolution, or every few revolutions? There are certain parts of the engine that will tick according to a cycle. Exhaust tick would be once for every fire, a lifter or injector would be every 6 fires, and a ticking belt could have a few revolutions between each tick.

L67 wrote:

GMFreak8 wrote:

anyway to check it? You have to be inside the car to hear the ticking. Otherwise you can't tell it's even doing it. Think it could be an injector or lifter?

It could be a lifter as well, try taking a screwdriver to your ear and placing it on the valve covers to see if the noise seems to be coming from there. Be sure to stay clear of the belts and alternator while doing this though. It would be helpful to try and get a video to narrow down the noise, but it seems unlikely that it would be valvetrain related if you had to be inside the car to hear it.

I'll have to do that when I can actually stand outside without loosing feeling in my hands. I would love to do a video, but I don't have any audio and video equipment that picks up the ticking.

It seems the harder I drive it the less likely it is that I'll hear the noise.

AA wrote:

Can you tell if the tick occurs at every cylinder fire, once every crank revolution, or every few revolutions?

It's a slower tick, with a slight delay in frequency when stepping on the throttle and backing back down if that makes sense. It does follow the RPM of the engine though just delayed.

AA wrote:

Can you tell if the tick occurs at every cylinder fire, once every crank revolution, or every few revolutions? There are certain parts of the engine that will tick according to a cycle. Exhaust tick would be once for every fire, a lifter or injector would be every 6 fires, and a ticking belt could have a few revolutions between each tick.

A belt can tick? I do need a few pulleys replaced. Could that be the cause?

these riv headers are prone to cracking. s/c = big heat.
mine began as a ticking sound,and i killed my self to find it. checked the injectors,checked the valves,lifters. nothing
it came down to the manifold but i didnt find this out until it got so bad i wanted to drive her into the dessert and shoot her. no kiddin.
check the manifolds,if you see dark carbon marks around the factory welds (where the exhaust pipes are welded to the header plate) that might be your problem. gotta take em off though.....

If it's a slow tick, that can be a symptom of a noisy belt or tensioner. Mine is only noisy when it gets very cold. Sometimes moisture can cause it as well. A quick "chirp" sometimes sounds like a "tick".

If you have any cracks in the exhaust manifolds and want try a repair that doesn't involve welding take a look at the product for manifolds on www.por15.com/
I just noticed the exhaust product the other day while looking at their whole product line up.
Am ordering some stuff to put in my right rear fender well on the Riv. and the kit to re-seal the gas tanks on my motorcycle.

AA wrote:

If it's a slow tick, that can be a symptom of a noisy belt or tensioner. Mine is only noisy when it gets very cold. Sometimes moisture can cause it as well. A quick "chirp" sometimes sounds like a "tick".

It's definitely a tick and not a chirp. It's probably around two ticks per second or so.

AA wrote:

If it's a slow tick, that can be a symptom of a noisy belt or tensioner. Mine is only noisy when it gets very cold. Sometimes moisture can cause it as well. A quick "chirp" sometimes sounds like a "tick".

Would this noise be audible from under the hood as well as from inside the car???
Or is it such a slight noise that all the normal engine noise's drown it out and it is best heard from inside the car.?

Rickw wrote:

AA wrote:

If it's a slow tick, that can be a symptom of a noisy belt or tensioner. Mine is only noisy when it gets very cold. Sometimes moisture can cause it as well. A quick "chirp" sometimes sounds like a "tick".

Would this noise be audible from under the hood as well as from inside the car???
Or is such a slight noise that all the normal engine noise's drown it out and it is best heard from inside the car.?

I think it's the latter.

Exhaust leaks are louder when the engine is first started, before it warms up. This is also the best time to find the leak. If you have somewhere(garage) you can jack it up high and put it on some stands then the next morning start it up and quickly get under the car and see if you can pin point it. Sometimes you can feel the exhaust pulse blow against your hand if you get your hand next to where the leak is before everything gets hot.

Wear safety glasses. Dont wear loose clothing.

Obviously you should be very careful about getting close to the belts or you could get injured badly.

Bert

I suppose from the descriptions that it could be a noisy IAC or EGR.
But it does sound like the noise I started getting from my perfectly silent Delco belts the first time i drove thru a puddle this winter...

I would have to go with lifter noise on this 1. Your lifters are probably sticking abit. The 3.8 didn't normally have any lifter issues they are far more common in the GM 3.4L. My 3.4 in my Alero has had lifter noise for a long time, and like you say the noise is more noticable when the engine is cold. Try running a rislone, or Lucas oil stabilizer to quiet them down, it usually does the trick on my Oldsmoboble. Just my 2 cents.

Hometown Hero wrote:

I would have to go with lifter noise on this 1. Your lifters are probably sticking abit. The 3.8 didn't normally have any lifter issues they are far more common in the GM 3.4L. My 3.4 in my Alero has had lifter noise for a long time, and like you say the noise is more noticable when the engine is cold. Try running a rislone, or Lucas oil stabilizer to quiet them down, it usually does the trick on my Oldsmoboble. Just my 2 cents.

That's what I'm afraid of. It does sound like lifters to me. Will the sticking lifter cause any problems? A mechanic suggested I put some lucas in it and see if that makes a difference. I'm surprised considering the fact that I run synthetic oil with tight change intervals. Would a thicker oil perhaps be better than a thinner?

GMFreak8 wrote:

It's a slower tick, with a slight delay in frequency when stepping on the throttle and backing back down if that makes sense. It does follow the RPM of the engine though just delayed.

Well just how slow? This post, along with the one that says you can't hear it standing in front of the engine, makes me doubt it's the lifters... Do you think it's ticking at 400 RPM at idle?

Having said that, I'll say that thicker oil would make less noise in a leaky lifter. A sticky lifter needs a cleaner. Wynn's used to make an "Oil Change Prep" that quieted down the lifters in my high mileage Grand Am 400 very well when they got noisy. I would look for something similar before your next oil change, something that has a 50-150 mile limit before changing the oil. Or, you could add a pint of Rislone Concentrate for a couple thousand miles.

Eldo wrote:

GMFreak8 wrote:

It's a slower tick, with a slight delay in frequency when stepping on the throttle and backing back down if that makes sense. It does follow the RPM of the engine though just delayed.

Well just how slow? This post, along with the one that says you can't hear it standing in front of the engine, makes me doubt it's the lifters... Do you think it's ticking at 400 RPM at idle?

Having said that, I'll say that thicker oil would make less noise in a leaky lifter. A sticky lifter needs a cleaner. Wynn's used to make an "Oil Change Prep" that quieted down the lifters in my high mileage Grand Am 400 very well when they got noisy. I would look for something similar before your next oil change, something that has a 50-150 mile limit before changing the oil. Or, you could add a pint of Rislone Concentrate for a couple thousand miles.

It does tick at idle, to around 1200 RPM before either it stops or the noise of the engine drowns it out. Sometimes it sounds louder, sometimes softer, and other times it's not there at all. It's driving me nutty. At idle it's probably two to four ticks per second.

You shouldn't have to many mechanical issues anytime soon if its just sticky lifters. I have run my Olds on 20% stabilizer 80% oil for about 3 years now and it hasn't got any worse. I admit its irritating as all hell, specially when you start your gas job in the winter and it sounds almost like a VW diesel from a distance. Its abit discouraging, but not catastrophic.

Hometown Hero wrote:

You shouldn't have to many mechanical issues anytime soon if its just sticky lifters. I have run my Olds on 20% stabilizer 80% oil for about 3 years now and it hasn't got any worse. I admit its irritating as all hell, specially when you start your gas job in the winter and it sounds almost like a VW diesel from a distance. Its abit discouraging, but not catastrophic.

Thankfully it doesn't sound that bad. It's barely audible inside and not at all audible outside. I've already tried injector cleaner thinking it might be dirty injectors with no change, so my next thing may be to try some lucas oil stabilizer and see if that does anything. I ran that in my old buick for 30,000 miles that had no oil pressure at idle. I truly believe if it wasnt for the lucas it would have died a lot sooner.

You can't even hear it when you pop the hood? If it were me, I'd try to locate the source before resulting to trial & error testing.

I run alot of Lucas products, not becasue I sell lucas, mainly because its just a flat out good line of products.

Their upper cylinder Lubricant / injector cleaner works great, I can't begin to count how many customers I had that came in ranting an raving about fuel milage difference after adding it. Made me start using it to, just to give it a shot and it really does work, specially highway miles.

I am using the Lucas engine break-in lube on my Javelin because of its high zinc content it is supposed to be awsome for break-ins I am coupling it with Rotella T for the first oil change after the build up, because of it high zinc content as well. I guess what I am really trying to say is from my experience anything that says Lucas on it is a good product.

I'd take off the valve cover and have a look. Could be very simple. Damaged rocker or push rod.