Tahoe 2012 ticking noise on cold start and accelerating

[wayfarer9000]

Hi guys. So i bought a tahoe 2012 5.3 2wd recently and it has ticking noise on cold start for about 30 seconds and then when i start accelerating but stops when the car is in motion but even when in motion if i accelerate the noise comes back. Any thoughts?? Just a little background. I did injector cleaning. Spark plugs and wires changed. Oil changed. Oil pan gasket changed. But it didn’t have the ticking noise until the mechanic changed the rear main seal with the part it is attached to. 

any help would be highly appreciated 

[richard wysong]

check the exhaust manifolds and bolts and where the pipe meets the manifold. it may be a small exhaust leak that sounds like engine noise. when you accelerate the engine moves on its mounts thus putting pressure on the exhaust system. they may have disconnected the front pipe to do the rear main and its not sealed or the bolts aren't tight. manifold bolt breakage is common on the 53

[Supreme Pizza]

Ya, could be exhaust. How does the oil pressure look? If it sits over night, does it take longer than normal to get oil pressure on the dash gauge? New problems showing up right after a mechanic worked on it is sometimes a way to get repeat business. You could also see what grade of oil is in it, could be the wrong type after the rear main was replaced. Are you getting any OBD2 trouble codes (sometimes exhaust leaks will trigger O2 sensor codes).

[richard wysong]

I had a donut gasket blow out on the approach to the George Washington  bridge in New York city, pulling a trailer in  stop and go traffic with my 98 k2500hd. I would have bet $ that I spun a bearing. 200 miles from home I was relieved it was just the exhaust. the three bolt flanges had rotted away. I still haven't found a 2 piece replacement flange but was able to mouse it together with the 3 piece universal flange and the welder. I really don't want to cut the y pipe to replace them with 1 piece flanges.. on the way home after dropping the trailer in Baltimore I saw a guy on the southern approach to the bridge with the engine out of his van in the breakdown lane, amazed the cops let him do that

[dna9656]

05 to 14 GM engine had crappy O ring seal at oil pick up tube to oil pump connection. I replaced mine. while I was in there I replaced the following because it was convenient at the time and I was already in there.

Oil pick up tube

Oil pump with high volume melling pump

Timing chain and gear.

Cleaned everything using a file I smoothed out the casting trash from shallow end to deep end of the oil pan to lessen impediment of goo in the bottom of all oil pan during oil change.

There's nothing like 35 to 40 psi of oil pressure in a fully warmed up engine at idle.

Remember a HIGH VOLUME pump, not high pressure pump; I bought mine from Amazon, beats everyone's price; esp. if you got Prime. The Haynes book tells you to replace the Timing chain cover without explanation; I assume it fails at some time so I replaced that too.

You'll need an impact wrench to break loose the harmonic balancer bolt, GM wants that bolt replaced, so I used the old bolt to seat the lower timing sprocket and the balancer. You'll need a5.3 balancer puller, Auto zone's didn't fit so I bought one on Amazon $20 odd dollars. I used a verier caliper to position the new lower timing sprocket, so measure where (depth from end of crank) the old one lives before you take it off. You might get a gasket and front crank seal with the new cover check before you order a cover gasket and crank shaft seal kit. The oil pan and timing chain cover aren't as tricky as I thought; just have everything at the ready and (I can't stress this enough) use the right torque wrench for all fasteners. So be sure to have ft and/or inch pound torque wrenches on hand BEFORE you start installing the pan and cover bolts. ]

At the pick up tube and pump junction you install the new O ring. It's kept in place by a bracket shaped very much like a GM distributor clamp (horse shoe) you can get one for the other side of the junction. Look at drawings/pics and you'll see what I mean. USE the RIGHT Thread locker too.

Do it correctly and you wont have to do it again.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=model+years+affected+by+bad+O+ring+in+5.3+engine&t=newext&ia=web

Edited December 21, 2021 by dna9656
Added info

[Supreme Pizza]

4 hours ago, dna9656 said:

05 to 14 GM engine had crappy O ring seal at oil pick up tube to oil pump connection. I replaced mine. while I was in there I replaced the following because it was convenient at the time and I was already in there.

Oil pick up tube

Oil pump with high volume melling pump

Timing chain and gear.

Cleaned everything using a file I smoothed out the casting trash from shallow end to deep end of the oil pan to lessen impediment of goo in the bottom of all oil pan during oil change.

There's nothing like 35 to 40 psi of oil pressure in a fully warmed up engine at idle.

Remember a HIGH VOLUME pump, not high pressure pump; I bought mine from Amazon, beats everyone's price; esp. if you got Prime. The Haynes book tells you to replace the Timing chain cover without explanation; I assume it fails at some time so I replaced that too.

You'll need an impact wrench to break loose the harmonic balancer bolt, GM wants that bolt replaced, so I used the old bolt to seat the lower timing sprocket and the balancer. You'll need a5.3 balancer puller, Auto zone's didn't fit so I bought one on Amazon $20 odd dollars. I used a verier caliper to position the new lower timing sprocket, so measure where (depth from end of crank) the old one lives before you take it off. You might get a gasket and front crank seal with the new cover check before you order a cover gasket and crank shaft seal kit. The oil pan and timing chain cover aren't as tricky as I thought; just have everything at the ready and (I can't stress this enough) use the right torque wrench for all fasteners. So be sure to have ft and/or inch pound torque wrenches on hand BEFORE you start installing the pan and cover bolts. ]

At the pick up tube and pump junction you install the new O ring. It's kept in place by a bracket shaped very much like a GM distributor clamp (horse shoe) you can get one for the other side of the junction. Look at drawings/pics and you'll see what I mean. USE the RIGHT Thread locker too.

Do it correctly and you wont have to do it again.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=model+years+affected+by+bad+O+ring+in+5.3+engine&t=newext&ia=web

 

 

Yep, I recently did the exact same repair on my 2008 Suburban. Everything you said is correct, in my opinion. Good detail.

 

I did a few things a little different, but your way works just fine. I went through the front of the motor, pulling the water pump and timing chain cover. Rather than using the OEM pickup tube bolt hole, I used the other hole, combined with a special bracket from Amazon. Its easier to do it that way when going through the front of the motor. I also installed two O-rings rather than one O-ring. I thought about replacing the water pump, timing chain and gears, oil pump, etc - but I ultimately decided that for my project, it would be extra time and money with minimal benefit. Replacing everything would be the best option I suppose, but it just was not for me. I thought about going through the oil pan to do the repair, but it just seemed like it would suck, after watching all the videos of people doing it that way. My front seal was leaking a little too, which was another reason to go through the front.

 

 

Also, its a big job - so I highly recommend confirming that the seal is bad before diving in. One way to tell is to park the vehicle nose down on a very steep hill. Let it sit for 24 hours and then start it. If the oil pressure comes up quickly, then park the rig in the opposite direction, nose up the steep hill. Let it sit for 24 hours and then start it. If the oil pressure build MUCH slower or doesn't build pressure at all - then your O-ring is bad. For me, nose up resulted in 0 oil pressure, and low oil warnings on the dash.

 

 

Before the repair:

 

cold idle: 30 lbs

Hot idle:  20 lbs

Cold W/ higher RPM :   40 lbs

Hot W/ higher RPM:      30 lbs

 

After the repair:

 

Cold idle: 60 lbs

Hot idle:   35 - 40 lbs,

Cold W/ higher RPM :   70-80 lbs

Hot W/ higher RPM:      50-60 lbs

 

I assume that the oil pump pressure relief valve is being utilized during some of these conditions.

 

The stock AFM oil pumps are higher volume/pressure than a standard 5.3 oil pump (from what I read).

 

 

 

Here is the pickup tube kit that I bought:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BJBHHQB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by Supreme Pizza