2000 silverado with the 5.3L lifter tick.

zwarner13 · December 4, 2019

I've got a lifter tick that just started and have been elbow deep in the engine since. I've got good oil pressure and all rockers are making full travel. I'm at a lots for where to go from here

sefiroxx · December 4, 2019

Lifter tick or cylinder slap (common annoyance with 5.3 of this time)

BlancoSilverado · December 4, 2019

If you have had good maintenance with the truck, before you do the next oil change, drain roughly a quart out of the crank and add a quart of automatic trans fluid, run for 20 mins and continue doing the oil change.

This might help with the ticking. Do not drive it let it idle.

Mikebtte · December 4, 2019

When does it tick? Hot or cold?

How many miles on the engine? If you are at 300K and have a tick just replace them, its fairly easy and normal for an LS engine to need lifters.

What oil are you running? I have seen people think that 0W 30 is okey to run in the LS. Not so! while good oil it is not the recommended oil and maybe running some 10W30 would solve the issue.

More details please.

sefiroxx · December 5, 2019

5/30 was introduced as it helped mfg meet mpg requirements. But the oil is thinner and may not protect as well. Run 10/30 as it will help those west gaps on engines with lots of miles.

zwarner13 · December 5, 2019

16 hours ago, Mikebtte said:

When does it tick? Hot or cold?

How many miles on the engine? If you are at 300K and have a tick just replace them, its fairly easy and normal for an LS engine to need lifters.

What oil are you running? I have seen people think that 0W 30 is okey to run in the LS. Not so! while good oil it is not the recommended oil and maybe running some 10W30 would solve the issue.

More details please.

Ticks hot and cold. The engine has 268k on it and I was planning on doing a full lifter set in it just cuz it's an older truck. The oil I'm running is 5w30 synthetic blend right now. I'm going to do an oil change in it and run rotella 15w40 to see if that helps. I've read of guys using rotella as a high mileage oil just for the viscosity retention.

zwarner13 · December 5, 2019

16 hours ago, BlancoSilverado said:

If you have had good maintenance with the truck, before you do the next oil change, drain roughly a quart out of the crank and add a quart of automatic trans fluid, run for 20 mins and continue doing the oil change.

This might help with the ticking. Do not drive it let it idle.

Regular servicing trying to keep this thing running is a must ha ha. I've added the trans fluid and ran in for a couple hours in total letting it really circulate through and clean it out. I'm going to try running rotella in it after the oil change

BlancoSilverado · December 5, 2019

I would first try the original weight first, see if that fixes the issue. if not you can try using thicker oil.

Also, if you are going to switch out the lifters, while you have the heads off you might want to replace the oil pump(i know you have to pull the front cover to do so).

I believe having lifter tick should not hurt the motor.

zwarner13 · December 5, 2019

Oil pump is on the to do list for sure thank you for the help

Mikebtte · December 5, 2019

Ya, its kind of a basket case of a job. I usually end up pulling the pan and doing pan gasket, valve cover gaskets, timing chain and oil pump. Kind of a one and done if affordable.

It's Tim · December 5, 2019

Oil pump won't change anything if the bearings are toast.

sefiroxx · December 5, 2019

T4 rotella has a higher amount of zinc and phosphorous - good for flat tappet cam providing antiscuff capability. The anti scuff will help reduce damage, but may not eliminate the tick.

Heavier oil will fill the gap and reduce. But ultimately, you need to replace the lifters as the heavier oil will impact mpg.

It's Tim · December 6, 2019

17 hours ago, sefiroxx said:

good for flat tappet

Roller lifters...

riverbanks · December 6, 2019

With the tight tolerance on crank bearings,15w40,too thick?help one problem,create another?look into "stiction eliminator" from hot shot,a proven product,I use it in everything,a dab will do you,lol,other is a couple of 500 mile oil changes,did that to my 02,years ago,helped alot

Colossus · December 6, 2019

Cold start knock, and warm ticking were VERY common complaints on here for the GMT-800s I had it on my 99, 05, and 07 1500s 5.3L and on a previous company truck with the 4.8L. Some tried 5W30 full synthetic, some tried 10W30, some different brands, it never really did go away much but for my 99 it did quiet down with full synthetic 5W30 Mobil-1 back in the day.