but its under the valve cover. Started hearing a tick on the way to a show last Oct. got louder the longer I drove. It was about a 500 mile trip. she got me home and I parked it in the garage until I felt like looking at it. Today I felt like messing with it. Pulled the L valve cover, put my open top inspection cover on to keep the oil in and fired it off. The sound was like a Briggs 3 hp engine idling. pop pop pop popopoppp and it seems to be coming from the base of the #1 ex valve. Using my hose to the ear trick that is where it is loudest. I've heard 430 heads are known to crack but never heard or seen one that had. Is this what is going on? https://youtube.com/shorts/aROnQ9L5MJM?feature=share
In your FB video, it sounds metallic, like a ball peen hammer. Does it have a dead miss? Can you pull the rocker shaft and confirm there is nothing wrong? Broken spring?
I backed off the adj pushrod as far as it would go so there was slop on the rocker and there was no change in that noise. Guess I could pull that push rod completely to see if it was still there. and no its not missing. Sounds like it always does when idling
If it’s idling like usual……. No change except for the noise, I’d look for an exhaust leak on or around that cylinder
Not common, but I've seen exhaust valve guides so wiped-out that the exhaust would get pushed up the valve stem. Usually results in more crankcase pressure than the PCV can deal with. Tends to cook the valve stem seal (if there is one) but may not result in much oil-burning as the exhaust is so busy going out that the oil can't drool in. Consider a "poor-man's smoke test" for exhaust leaks. Light a cigarette, inhale, blow smoke at the suspected exhaust leak. If the smoke gets disturbed when you hear the "Pop", you can bet there's a pressure pulse the smoke is revealing. This "metallic" "tick" isn't a wiped cam lobe leading to no lifter preload...right?
When the noise first started up I had assumed it was lifters ticking and fully expected to see one if not more pushrods not spinning do to a wiped cam lobe. marked all the push rods and all but one were spinning around right from the start and the other started moving within 30 seconds. Using the hose in ur ear trick I've narrowed it down to the #1 ex valve as being he location of the noise. I dont smoke and really dont know anyone that does so I'd have to come up with something else. Will pull the shaft later today. May even push a bit of rope in that cylinder and bring up the piston to hold the valves in place and pull the spring, check for slop. Got about 25000 hard miles on this engine. Another suspect happening is it started to push oil past the gasket on that side. There is a breather in that cover so it must have been a lot of pressure
Wow... that's pretty loud Briz. Did you look the spark plug over really good for that cylinder? Maybe cracked porcelain part?
Yep. It was loose so I pulled it completely out and reinstalled. In fact all of them on that side needed a snug. This was the same head that the gasket let go just over a yr ago. That let some of the waterless coolant into the oil which prompted the last tear down to clean things and replace bearings. Would not be surprised if this was related to that oil contamination.
I can’t tell if that fixed it from his post. Next step would be to remove the rocker shaft and put shop air into the affected cylinder to see where the wind is going, if it’s wind that’s going...
I'm no expert, but I heard that a cracked head will let coolant leak in to the rocker area which you can see once the valve covers are removed. Since you don't see coolant I think there's no crack.
Your statement of hard miles would prompt me to look closely at the plugs for signs of detonation, since that can loosen up plugs also.
Ok found the issue. Dumb ass me pulled the air supply and the valve fell into the cylinder. Guess Im fixing it where she sits. As I added pressure the piston got pushed down and I didnt really think of the implications of that until it was to late https://youtube.com/shorts/AX5KavwruJ8?feature=share
Winky, winky, winky...lol Sucks about the worn valve guide. Glad you found the problem. Also sucks that you dropped the valve into the cylinder. But you had to pull the head anyway to fix it, so not a big issue. More of a problem if the valve guide was ok.
Well I suppose that could do it. Sucks that it fell into the cylinder though... Time for some aluminum heads?
