Does it on start up in the morning. It's not just a real subtle sound that you have to strain to hear, its pretty obvious. Just piston slap or something serious? quits after it warms up to normal temp, i just want to make sure.

Also have a pretty bad oil leak coming from somewhere near the back of my motor, any ideas on what it is? my dipstick is really lose could that be the problem?

thanks

 

Probably lifter tick.

Oil leaks from the back of the engine could be intake manifold, valve cover (most likely), or oil pressure sending unit.

 

could be your main seal if its leaking from the back.

 

A good way to go about checking knocks or ticks is to listen for the timing of it, a camshaft related tick should occur at half the engine crank speed (rpm), a crank sound would be on time with the rpm's.

 

Thanks for the help guys i'll dig into it this friday when i install headers

 

exactly what mine was.