[Lixxie420]

I bought her a year ago for two grand there was a soft tapping sound the guy told me it was typical of that age and that engine I have a lifter go out eventually So eventually I would need to replace that so a month ago it got really loud I open the valve covers replaced all the lifters all the rocker arms look good and feel good put everything back together and it still making that sound! It sounds to me like it is coming from underneath the valve cover on the passenger side but I checked all that it looks good I don't know what to do I need help nobody will look at my car because it's got over 200,000 miles on it my brother passed away so he can't help me anymore I'm struggling here should I just give up and get a new engine?

 

[8cylinder287]

Is it just a ticking sound? If that's the case, could be an exhaust leak from a cracked manifold.

 

[RXT]

Is it ticking or knocking? If it's knocking, you might have bigger problems than you really want to deal with. Sure you could have the engine rebuilt or replaced but as a suggestion, I would recommend another course of action and that would be sell the truck. This may not be the answer you want to hear but, when you have a high mileage truck, most of it's parts are either reaching it's service life expectancy or already beyond and waiting to fail. Let someone else buy it, who is willing to deal with it.

Ed

 

[g48572]

I just finished looking at my bearings after what I thought was a rod knock. Turns out my bearings were totally fine. (140,000 miles)

Opened up my valve covers and everything was good there too. I also can’t find the source of the tick/knock but after seeing my bearings in such pristine condition, I’ve given up looking.

These motors just make so many weird noises it’s hard to tell what’s normal and what’s going south. Don’t be like me and go crazy tearing your truck apart looking for it

Possible sources:

-piston slap
-worn wrist pin
-bent connecting rod
-spark knock
-excess carbon in cylinders
-exhaust manifold leak
-poor quality gas
-worn valve lash adjusters
-cracked flex plate
-flex plate bolt backing out
-ac compressor
-timing chain tensioner

 

[turbojoe62]

More than likely exhaust manifold leak. Have seen several with that problem. The bolts rust into manifold so they "seem" tight when actually bolt is broken off between cyl head and manifold causing leak (ticking sound).