From the first time I started up this rebuilt engine I have had this tick on the passenger side of my car. The engine runs great with no issues other than this tick. I checked all the easy stuff first like making sure the plugs were in tight and that it wast an exhaust leak. I changed out the header gasket recently and the tick continued. The rockers all look good, they are all tight and I dont see anything odd with the push rods. Oil pressure was around 20lbs during this video and doesn't drop much when the engine gets hot. Yes the cam, lifters, push rods, valves, and valve springs were all replaced during the rebuild. The tick is defiantly more pronounced with the valve cover off and now that I listen tot he video it sounds like it my becoming from the front of the valve train. Here is a link to the video, you can hear the tick very well. https://youtu.be/PBN3HjFtCqs Any ideas?
Sounds like a valve or valves being slamming closed onto the seat. Try this, engine running, valve cover off, put finger pressure onto the pushrod side of the rocker and see if the ticking goes away, or changes. Did you check for the proper length pushrods? What all was done to the heads? Stock cam?
I put pressure on all of the rockers and nothing changed. I don't think I specifically did it to the pushrod side tho. The heads had .020 milled off of them but I used the thicker head gaskets to makeup for the difference. The cam is not stock. It's specs are in my signature. I appreciate the help. Edit: Heads were freshly rebuilt with everything new except the valves which were cleaned up like new.
Could indicate that the cam got wiped out on one or more lobes and that's why its ticking? If that happens the engine needs to be removed, tore completely down and all the metal needs to be cleaned out. If its bad enough metal can get impregnated in the piston skirts scraping up and down the cylinder wall with every stroke. If that's the case the rings will be shot and you'll need new pistons and the block will need to be bored and honed again. Using a flat tappet cam is a gamble nowadays if everything isn't the way its supposed to be when the cam breaks in the entire build has to be redone. I try to go with a roller cam on any engine I build if possible because of the risk of failure with a flat tappet cam even when everything is done right, the extra $ spent is good insurance to not have to redo what was just done. If there are flakes in the oil filter there will be flakes in the engine as well because when the oil is thicker when not warmed up yet a lot of it goes thru the oil filter bypass until its warmed up to be thin enough for it all to be filtered. I hope this is not the case for you and that you just have a bad lifter that won't pump up. GL Derek
Well this is terrifying. I have had the oil filter off in the past and I haven't noticed any flakes. Do I need to cut this one open? When I broke this cam in I used a conventional 30 wt with a Lucas break in additive with zinc. If I wiped a lobe the engine would be running like crap right? Aside from the tick it runs great and makes great power. No issues at all. Edit- I have changed and inspected the oil after the initial break in and didn't notice any flakes which I did look for at the time.
Yes cut the filter open. Then you will have a good idea that it is or is not a big problem. Could only feel the tick in my motor when it spun 7 and 8 rod bearings. But you need to find out now before more damage may be done.
Does the ticking get worse at any particular rpm, or subside? Or is it consistent? Some cams, especially "fast ramp" cams can be noisey, the valves literally slam back onto the seat.
Did you check retainer to guide clearance at full lift? A lot if not most Buick heads have tall guides on the exhaust valves, a cam with a lot of lift can make the retainer smack the exhaust guide at full lift.
Well I cut the filter open and I am going to assume what I saw is not good. The oil is a Mobil 1 full synthetic 15-40 with zinc plus a zinc additive which I added. Upon inspection the oil from the filter had an odd tint to it, which i assume to be millions of small pieces of metal. As i got further into looking at everything I found plenty of "flakes" on the bottom of the oil pan. Nothing big in the filter, but I am assuming the worst. :-( Here is a video of my findings: https://youtu.be/-Yffet1dxeY
Crap! I did not want to be right. It looks like you took out a bearing. Little hard to see but when you said "it looks like gold" ... it's not. You are seeing the copper off of a bearing. I have been there and know that it sucks. I had one year that I pulled the motor 3 times in one month. Only once for the rebuild though.
I plucked out as many of the larger flakes as I could with my finger tips and put them on a paper towel and inspected them with a flash night. The majority of them were silver but I did find a hand full that seemed to have a copper color. So what bearing would the copper be coming from? Edit: Would the fact that this engine has less than 300 miles on it and the oil has only been changed once since the break in procedure cause this metal? Should I change the oil and run it for a bit, then drain it and see what comes out?
Kody, it is not cam bearings it is rod bearings. Do not run the engine it will only cause more damage. Time to take a deep breath, relax and have a beer. If you need to walk away for a while and let it rest do so. At least you are in CA where cruising season is all year. We have all been through this it is just part of the hobby. Why we do this is a mystery to most. I always say that I am not too smart. Best of luck on the new rebuild and keep us informed. To bad you are not a neighbor because I love to pull motors.
Well the good news is that the cam is probably ok, the bad news is that your bearings are shot and will start wearing out parts if you keep driving it! The copper color in the oil filter is a dead give away that you have bearing failure. If you didn't make sure the oil feed holes in the crank were clean before you installed it then one or more of them could of been clogged and starved a couple journals of oil. You need to remove the engine and replace the bearings before your rods get stretched out of round and the crank gets eaten up. Either way the rod bores that the bearings are shot need to be measured for stretch. If your lucky the crank can get away with being polished, worst case scenario is it will have to be ground to the next undersize. Make sure ALL of the oil passages in the crank are clean and free of debris before installing. When you remove the lifters and cam make sure you keep the lifters in order of where they came out so they can be re-installed in the same spot. The good thing is that the cam won't need to be broke in again but make sure to have at least assembly lube on the lobes and journals when you re-install it. Same with the pistons, make sure those go back in the same bores that they came out of, especially if the rings are still good enough to re-use(if you decide to change the rings anyway while its out at least ball hone the bore so the new rings have the right surface finish to break in with). If there is scoring on the bores from the metal in the oil then the block should be re-honed and new rings installed. If it is so bad in there and the pistons have metal impregnated in the skirts then the pistons should be replaced with the rings. If the bores are scored really bad then the next piston size may even be needed. The block should be at least jet-washed at your local machine shop with all of the oil plugs out and rifle brushed the oil passages and have them replace the cam bearings while they have it.(freeze plugs can stay in) GL Sorry this happened to you! Derek
The machine shop assembled the bottom end for me and I didn't double check if they did everything right and if the oil passages were free of debris. I guess you live and learn... This is a tough lesson. I really don't have the cash to get this motor rebuilt but oh well. I'll sell everything I have to fix that motor. I had finally started to get that motor tuned and dialed in. It was running really well. I want so bad to just change the oil and run it for a bit and see what happens but I know that isn't the right thing to do.
