I fired up my 72 GS 350 this morning and it had a pretty loud tick form the passenger valve cover. I pulled the valve cover but I didn't see anything visibly wrong. Any ideas? Is it a bad lifter? The motor was rebuilt by a previous owner and appears very clean inside and runs great, and was very quiet before this morning. Its a little more than a "normal" valve tick, its pretty loud! Thanks Steve
Check the obvious things like oil level, exhaust leak at manifold and then check your lifters by removing your rocker arm assemblies and checking the lifter plungers with your pushrods for a spongy lifter.(So I've heard)Sounds like a low oil level or cold exhaust manifold gasket.Check it after your engine warms up a little .May just have to tighten your manifold bolts a little.Also make sure your rocker arm assemblies are torqued properly.
Just to update everyone. I checked the oil level first thing after it happened and it was fine. I pulled the valve cover and started the motor to see if I could tell where it was coming from. When I started the motor there was no oil flowing anywhere on the head so I guess I found my problem. I only recently got this car and it is all original with nothing but the ole idiot lights. I bought some gauges for it but have not installed them yet. I guess it is either weak oil pressure or a stopped up oil passage. I am going to install my gauges to see what the oil pressure is. When replalcing the pump should I replace it with a hi volume pump or just a standard one? The car is a 72 GS 350 that is all stock. I am not planning on racing the car with this motor just cruising around. Thanks Steve
Check the oil pressure at idle with the engine warm to get an accurate reading. If it's low check the oil pump housing and cover for scoring. Good Luck!
