Possible lifter tick after DOD delete

B14Sierra · Tuesday at 07:22 PM

I'm starting to lose my mind with this truck. I just recently did a DOD delete on my 2014 6.2. Originally had a misfire on cylinder 5 and traced it down to bad lifter. I installed the BTR kit with a stage 1 cam. I also went ahead and put new complete heads on wirh new injectors. The truck runs great on the road but at idle you can tell a slight uneven shake and slight ticking sound. Can't hear it in the cab. Can't tell where it's coming from. It seems louder on the drivers side but you can also hear something on the passenger side. i can't tell if it'san actual lifter tick or injector/high pressure fuel pump tick. I did not change the oil pump and I'm hearing that I should have. I was told a new one could fix the tick but I don't know. At cold start pressure is at 40. Once hot, driving it's at about 38 and at idle it's about 32.

I'm not getting any misfire codes but I have gotten a P2097 code. Bank 1 to rich on the downstream O2. I have a feeling my drivets side Cat is going bad from when the cylinder 5 lifter went and was dumping fuel on that side. So yeah, I might have a couple of things going on but that tick has got me worried. I don't want to rip this thing apart again. I don't know what I should do at this point.

B14Sierra · Tuesday at 08:00 PM

Snowcamo · Wednesday at 12:57 AM

Take an automotive stethoscope to the vacuum pump. Iirc those tick as well.

B14Sierra · 2026-08-07T02:02:34Z

Update. I started chasing down my symptoms. Started first with pulling valve covers and looked at everything. Everything looked good and couldn't hear or feel anything different. Then a compression test. 240 psi or really close on each cylinder. I was worried I was a tooth off of timing. Not bad for an engine with 173,000. Granted I did put new heads on. I sprayed water around the injector area to see if I could hear a change. Nothing. I hooked up my new hp tuner which I should have done in the first place but I don't really know what I'm looking at just yet but am learning. I noticed the fuel trims were way off so that told me I have to have either a bad injector or exhaust leak. New injectors, so I did the shop vac on blower and in the tail pipe. Sprayed soapy water and found the exhaust flange on the drivers side was leaking. I didn't think it would be that considereding I pulled the heads and left the manifolds attached. I did have the transmission replaced not long ago. They must have not seated them properly but I guess I didn't notice. I put in new gaskets on both sides. Which by the way isn't a bad job but I had a hard time getting them to seal right. Took two attempts. Reset the fuel trims and the ticking is gone, engine runs smooth and acceleration has improved. Got to feel the real difference with that stage 1 cam. It's not that big of a difference but it does add a little more. It feels like how the truck should have been from the factory.