I've been trying to get rid of this "tick" for a while. Originally I thought it was due to inproper valve lash, however, I've set the valve lash twice now and went through and tightened them all up a little more and the tick is still there. Next, I went through and tightened up all the header bolts. Still there. I can feel the tick if I place my hand on the brake fluid reservoir, and it's stronger there than if I place my hand on the valve cover. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

exhaust leak somewhere?

 

What method of induction? is this tick RPM related or just constant?

 

exhaust or injector would be my guess

 

Yep, injector tick can sound pretty loud on a quiet running engine.

 

Very lightly place your fingers on top of a few injectors, and see if the ticking and pulse of the injectors are the same.

 

it's a TPI with a Holley Stealth Ram intake/fuel rail. I've never heard of a fuel injector tick before. I'll go and check that out. The tick is barely loud enough to hear with the hood shut if you're standing up. If you bend down, you can hear it, or if you open up the hood, you can hear it clearly.

The tick is RPM-related.

I put some Aluminum collector gaskets on there, so I don't think the collectors would be leaking, but I'll tighten those down and see if that makes a difference. Anyway to test for an exhaust leak?

 

A 2 foot piece of heater hose held to your ear and the other passed along the exhaust flanges, top and bottom (as best you can), it will amplify any noise coming from there.

 

My Stealth Ram with 30# SVO injectors is quite noisy. I actually loosened the screws for the fuel rail and put some rubber spacers in there and tightened them back down. Didn't seem to make much difference though. The guage I have attached to the fuel rail also make a LOT of racket and it's liquid filled!

Some people seem to notice, some don't, but I always hear it. It's been a couple of years now and I'm getting used to it.

 

I put my fingers on the fuel injectors, however I couldn't feel anything. I could feel the pulse in the fuel line, though.

 

I am having the same problem. A loud ticking at idle. I put my fingers on the injectors at the front of the engine and it sounds like it's coming from there (the pulse matches the sound).

SO, is this a problem? Are my injectors going bad or is this TICK normal / semi-normal?

I have a race on sunday and I really don't want to have a failure. I should have ordered a new set of injectors from Summitt Racing, but I ran out of time. I will put them on order if you guys think that would help.

I'm still learning the ways of TPI, so any advise would be appreciated.

Brian LaRose
Atlanta, GA
SCCA
http://www.bowtieracing.org

 

The ticking means it's firing as it should..

 

COOL! BUT, why does the ticking on the front of the engine seem louder than the back? AND why would the ticking match a pulse on the line, but not in the back.

I am running a can of cleaner thru it now, so MAYBE it will break loose any debris and run better.

AM Racer, Thanks for the note, i'll run it and see how it does..

Brian