I have an engine ticking sound only happens when the engine gets warm. It is not the crank though. It sounds like it is coming from inside the vavle cover. Lifter? I dunno. Is this an easy fix. It has been like this for about 2 months. Slowly getting worse. Or maybe I just think it is. Also it is a 71 buick 350 motor.
How many miles on this motor, and what weight of oil are you using? Is it a single tick-tick-tick or is it multiple ticks on the same side?
it ticks on what I would think on every revealution of the motor. The motor has I believe around 25k miles on her. I checked compression on the side that is ticking and the psi levels were all in about 5-10 psi for each other
Might be a lifter not pumping up fully....might have a little debris in it or something. Do you know if it has the aluminum or the steel rockers? you might check the rocker for wear at the valve stem. I had mine start doing the same thing, but mine had alot more miles on it. turned out mine was a cam lobe going flat and one lifter wearing badly concaved.
Don't overlook the possiblility of an exhaust leak at the manifold too. I developed some "ticking" sounds this summer, someone suggested a leak at the exhaust mnfld, so I tightened a couple bolts down a bit, they were definitely not at recommended torque, and that did change the tone of the "ticking" sound noticeably, so next spring I'm going to get a torque wrench on all the manifold bolts and make sure they are all at spec. I expect my ticking will be completely gone when I've done that. I just hope I can avoid putting in new gaskets...sounds like a real PITA to do.
