--Engine Ticking, New Truck--

grimm2420 · February 11, 2004

im just wondering, what have any of you done to make the ticking noise go away (if you ever had it) such as the one my engine makes. 1700 miles on it only . did anyone have the dealer fix it or did changing oils help out. I read past posts but nobody said what theyve done about it. Thanks, will appreciate any responses.

silverado4800 · February 11, 2004

Describe your ticking. How loud is this ticking, does it accelerate with engine speed, is it only at startup? Mine has cold start knock and a barely audible ticking at idle no matter the temp, but im pretty sure the ticking is injectors or maybe the valvetrain. Running 5 quarts conventional oil with 1 quart full synthetic and a bottle of prolong the csk is pretty minimal now whereas it used to be kinda harsh sounding, it only bothers me occasionally now. I wish i had tried the two things seperately as i don't know whether the prolong made a difference or the 1 quart synthetic.

I don't know if the prolong does what it says it will do but i do remember watching a tv show once where they were doing nothing but testing it. It was some weird stuff, they were running an engine on a stand without and oil pan throwing sand and water all over the bottom end. You could see the crank spinning, i guess it was running about 3000 to 4000 rpm, and the motor never skipped a beat. Plus they had a car driving all over the place with no oil pan. I have yet to abuse test it myself, i have some extra in my truck still in the bottle i plan to test.

In my opinion they will probably always be some csk. The engine is cold and the metals expand at different rates causing the noise, so its no big deal, i just don't give it the coal until it at least partially warms up. Just my personal experience, hope it helps.

grimm2420 · February 11, 2004

Its a light ticking, and it ticks whenever its idle, cold or hot. revving the engine in park makes it dissappear, so im guessing its not a knock, but i never heard a new engine make this sound before. I never really paid attention to any other gm engine sounds.

silverado4800 · February 11, 2004

My guess is that you are hearing the injectors or valvetrain. Wouldn't know exactly without hearing it but thats what it sounds like. I would say don't worry bout it, but someone else may have some more knowledge on this. Anybody?

sonicr1 · February 11, 2004

I have the 6.0, and I noticed what appears to be loud engine noises-ticking and such similer noises... I have written it off to the "plastic" intake manifold not containing the noise as well as a metal one.

gave20 · February 11, 2004

I believe that is lifter noise, nothing to worry about mine does the same thing. 2800 miles

silveradodude · February 11, 2004

It is likely to be the injectors,Completly normal but if the truck has awarranty get your use out of it.....

JBZ71 · February 12, 2004

Do you live where it get's real real cold???I notice my 03 has injector tick when real cold and when it warms up over 30 nothing...

Markeaux · February 12, 2004

I was just going to post about my tick, or rather how it has disappeared ... for the last couple of years (am at 32K now) my 01 Hoe has had a (single) low level tick all the time at idle no matter whether cold or hot; but, within the last few weeks there has been absolutely no tick whatsoever. The only thing that changed was using a synthetic other than Mobil1 since they were out at the time.

chris_kucia · August 12, 2004

I'd like to take a stab at resolving this on my truck.

My tick seems to be consistent with RPM. Its a single tick, and when I counted them in 30 seconds, it was about 300, which corresponds roughtly to the 500 or so RPM at idle.

Increasing the RPMs makes the tick increase to the point that it either stops, or is masked by the other increasing engine noises.

My engine does not tick at startup. The tick begins once the truck warms up, and then never goes away. I believe this would rule out the cold-start-knock.

I can't hear it while driving normally. I do hear it when the noise reflects off a curb or wall. Its very embarassing going through the fastfood drive-thru. Sounds like the driver side, but its difficult to locate precisely. The tick is a sharp, distinct, hard-sounding noise with a medium-to-high pitch.

It seems like the tick got worse when I changed the oil last weekend, but I really wasn't paying that much attention before (I had the infamous driveline clunk captivating my attention up until I changed the yoke last weekend). Plus, up until last week, it was so hot I had the A/C on all the time with the windows up.

My guess is that its either lifter or valve noise. I'd really like to get rid of it, but not if I have to pull the heads to do so.

Any suggestions on how I could narrow down the source and/or address it?

My best guess is its a lifter. I theorize that one of the orifices may be partially clogged. When the oil is cold, it doesn't move as fast, but when the oil heats up, it drains out faster than the lifter can be refilled. I figure that if it was a valve, it would tick all the time. Or, perhaps the checkball isn't sealing properly.

I have good oil pressure according to the gauge (never below 1/2, which IIRC is around 40-50 psi).

I'm using the recommended oil, which I believe is 5w-30. 10w-30 is recommended except in cold weather (IIRC). Maybe I should try the thicker oil and then make sure I change it before winter?

sonjaab · August 12, 2004

GUYS.....My 01 as well as my 04 has the tick ! Quite annoying

at a drive thru ! All new GM trucks have roller rockers so a

lifter tick is almost impossible.

The tick your hearing is fuel flowing thru the rails and injector poppets.

A mechanic whipped out a stethoscope and let me hear for myself

when I took it to the dealer.

You won't really notice it off idle because the engine is roaring or ya got

the stereo up LOUDER !...............LOL !!!!!!

NOT to be confused with CSK !

Thankfully which my 04 does NOT have.... .....geo

chris_kucia · August 12, 2004

My previous comment removed because I realized it didn't make any sense.

SoCarZ71 · August 12, 2004

When I bought my truck, the dealer (or shall I say service manager) went so far as to tell me that I would hear ticking. Of course, I kind of already knew to expect that, I guess some people get concerned. It is the lifter tick, as they are hydraulic and they have to pump up with oil. It it loudest for the first couple of minutes after starting the engine, cold or hot, and should get quieter thereafter, although not quite inaudible. As long as I have had a Chevy, the engines have always done this, It did it on my '69 C10 and it does it on my '02 1500.

After all, doesn't Chevrolet stand for Can Hear Every Valve Rap Out Loud Every Time?

So in short, that is normal, assuming that this is the ticking that you are hearing.

And Rocker arms and lifters are totally independant other than the fact that they work together to move the valves through the use of pushrods. I don't know of any hydraulic rockers, only roller tip rockers and flat tip rockers.

commanche1 · August 12, 2004

my lawnmower did this new. it was a kohler engine. sears said ITS normal noise.it was a lifter push/ rod on noise. i changed to synthetic 5w-30 and it went away.i think if you change oil to lighter grade like 5w-30 dino or synthetic and get a few more miles on it,hopefully it will go away. i dont know if warranty will cover if you do it but thats what i would try.my dodge did this for say 12,000 miles and it disappeared.but i changed to 5w-30 synthetic.i dont know if that made a difference or things just got better.