Valve Adjustments 97 Z71

PharmZ71 · March 20, 2003

I have this god awful ticking in my 97 Z71 (5.7L) that increases with acceleration. I replaced all the exhaust gasketing to no avail. This weekend I think I am gonna pull off the valve covers and make sure the valves are adjusted properly. I am no auto mechanic, I do oil changes, belt changes, fluid changes, etc.

The haynes manual made it look real easy...pull off the rocker arms and the pushrods and make sure they look ok, then just bring the pistons to top dead center, re-lube everything, put back in the pushrods and re tighten the rocker arms to the proper position...in a sequence they spell out.

Is there anything special I should know? Is this job really that simple or could I screw something up?

97C1500&84Z28 · March 20, 2003

I believe the ticking sound you hear is the SFI. You might want to try adding some fuel injector cleaner to your tank before messing around with valve adjustments. Also replace your fuel filter. These are simple maintainence procedures. How many miles on your truck?

PharmZ71 · March 21, 2003

It has about 46,000 miles. The guy who owned it before me only drove it during the winter months, so it sat a lot...don't know if that would make a difference.

It's always been perfectly maintained since it was new, only ever had mobil-1 synthetic oil in it. I already put a brand new fuel filter on at about 40k. I have run sea-foam through the crankcase oil. I will add some to my next gas fill....any suggestions on a better injecter cleaner than sea-foam?

Thanks!

americanmuscleman · March 24, 2003

Do you hear any "ticking" noise through your valve covers? If you do, its likely a loose rocker arm. If your not sure where the sound is coming from, you can take a hose and hold one end at your ear, and probe the other end around your engine to see if you can pin point where the sound is coming from.

Have you checked the exhaust manifolds for cracks? A cracked manifold will usually have a "ticking" sound that gets faster with more rpm. A loose rocker arm will "tick" even when the engine is idling, so that should be pretty obvious.