Hey guys so ive been trying to find the source of a light tapping that ive been having for a couple weeks now. You can only hear it at idle and when its at operating temp. When its cold it doesnt make the tapping sound, only until it gets to or close to op temp. At idle if i feather the throttle a bit it does change with throttle but after about 1100k rpms i cant hear it. Also the tap is not really consistent. Even when its at operating temp sometimes it will go away and come back and it can go from a taptaptap to a tap...taptap..tap. I removed the oil fill cap today and put my ear to it and could clearly hear something going on inside the head. You can hear it under the car and by the wheel well too. Right now my assumptions are a bad lash adjuster, piston slap, or a valve or a valve guide. Im kinda leaning towards maybe piston slap since it does it only when warm and the fact the you can hear it by the wheel well but if it were piston slap wouldnt it make it all the time and get worse when driving? I dont know and would appreciate any input on what it might be or what i should do next. The engine has 150k on it and the mods on it are cai, lethal return fuel system, id1050s, and a 2.8 upper. Oil is 5w30. No head cooling mod.
Driver side head tap
- Thread starter Kique
- Start date
to the best of my knowledge piston slap is usually a cold start thing, too much clearance when cold but as it heats up and expands into a reasonable spec it should quiet down/go away
This. Piston slap goes away as the engine gets warm. Unless the clearances are huge.
It could be a lash adjuster. It might also be the famous head tick. But I don't know if it comes and goes.
Timing chain?
Definitely not piston slap.
Definitely not piston slap.
see if you can use a screw driver as a stethoscope and narrow it down to front or rear of motor. If it's closer to #4 (radiator) then timing components could come into play.
Yea you guys are right, piston slap should go away when hot.
Timing chain is a possibility, if it were would it be that the tensioners are worn? the sound is mostly coming from around #5 and #6 (i used a screw driver a while back to make sure it wasnt the injectors) cant really hear it infront of the engine. At this point would it be safe to assume its a valve train issue? Since it happens when hot, the oil is thinning out causing tolerances to increase? Then when i get on the throttle the increased oil pressure gets rid of that?
Return style fuel system with 1050s for an eaton car? Something gives me the impression this car has been whipped to death with big blowers and then swapped back and pawned off.
I'd start by pulling the plugs and having a look.
I'd start by pulling the plugs and having a look.
Car was stock when i bought it. I installed all the mods myself and did the fuel system so i can run corn.
The ol' terminator switcharoo could have still happened, you don't ever know unless you personally knew each previous owner. Putting these cars back to stock and selling is all too common. Stick around and you'll see it happening. Watching market ads can show which cars are being lipsticked back to health. The 'going back to stock' ads are some of the biggest red flags.
I'd still start this hunt with inspecting plugs. Just me. A 'tap tap tap' could be a broken piston, but it could also be a plug fixing to exit the head. A quick check could catch this.
Any update?
Im almost certain that my tap is valve train related, most likely a lash adjuster. Weather dropped a bit here in cali this week. With my drilled stock t stat my coolant temp is about 176-180 (according to the sct tuner) before i was seeing 180-200(with the ac on). The tapping seems to come up less. The engine will faintly start doing it again once its a little on the hotter side. So im sure once the oil loses some viscosity, my tapping starts. I went ahead and pulled my plugs and they looked fine to me, besides some oil on the threads. The plugs had about 4k on them. (Plugs on the right are the drivers side)
So I guess the next step could be to pull the valve covers, pull the lash asjusters and replace them. You could squeeze them in a vice to see if you can locate the bad one. If you replace and the noise is still there then it may be a valve. Good luck.
What oil weight are you running?
Looks like his original post says 5w30.
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I’ve had a few issues over the years with heads
taps ive had that sounded similar
pulley bearings
Clutch release bearing
Lower stock pulley bushings
all 3 sounded like valve train
Passenger head 400k plus
Drivers at 220k
Motor original
idle is extremely quiet
taps ive had that sounded similar
pulley bearings
Clutch release bearing
Lower stock pulley bushings
all 3 sounded like valve train
Passenger head 400k plus
Drivers at 220k
Motor original
idle is extremely quiet
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