Hi guys,

My car has been making a tick tick tick noise for a while now and its annoying more than anything else. I thought it was my Bosch 3 injectors at first but its too loud, you can clearly hear it with the hood closed over the noise of the engine and it goes in time with the revs, so gets faster if you rev it, and it clearly sounds like its coming from the valve cover area.

Do you think it would be wise to pull the valve covers off and check they are all tight first before ordering new ones ? ive checked them years ago and all was well but the noise remained.

Ive never replaced the pushrods and rocker arms before so im not sure if its just a case of unbolting the arms and pulling the rods out and then replacing them, or is it more involved than that ?

 

Never a bad idea to perform the valve lash adjustment procedure before you go replacing parts. If you do find one that is excessively loose you may want to inspect further to make sure a rocker is not worn/broken or a pushrod bent or tweeked. I like to set my valve lash by the book, then after all 16 are set, warm up the car and set them again with the engine running. I have an old valve cover with a section cut out to get at the rocker nuts for doing a clean-no-oil-spatter engine running adjustment.

 

that sounds terrifying adjusting while its running and they are going up and down ?? lol

 

I will check them first but i dont think it is that. Someone said it might be a failed hydraulic lifter which would suck because id have to take the intake off and ruin the paint job on the top half of the engine.

Ive recently just done a 300 mile round trip to a show and back, sitting on the motorway for nearly 3 hours doing between 60 and 70 and the car runs great though, feels like it would just blast all the way upto 150 if i wanted !

 

Lots of youtube videos out there on how to do it. Good luck.

 

It really isn't. Just messy and smokey.

 

ha ha sounds fun then

 

And when oil gets into your header wrap and smoke for a few miles at every stop sign it is extra fun.

 

It doesn't have to be messy and smoky at least for perimeter bolt heads.

I have a valve cover I use that is cut out right where the rocker nuts are and it keeps the splashing to a minimum. Trying to adjust valves while the engine is hot with the valve covers off IS a nightmare with hot oil flying everywhere.

 

it takes less then 1 minute per head to adjust while motor is running, also... check the rocker arm stud. Mine pulled up about 1/8 inch out of head.

 

A ticking sound under the valve covers is rarely a rocker/pushrod problem. It's always a good idea to replace the stock stamped steel OEM rockers with something better. A full roller of any type is nice. Even just installing a less expensive roller tip rocker is an improvement.

Pushrods don't wear out unless there hasn't been enough lubrication for the ends or it got bent from other engine damage.

There's always a possibility that a rocker nut has backed itself off slightly to cause the rocker to loose it's lash setting. Simplest thing to try first is to just replace all the rocker nuts and reset the lash.

More commonly, a ticking rocker normally means you have a cam lobe/lifter failure. As the lobe and lifter wear out, the amount of cam lift decreases and the lifter preload decreases enough that the rockers start making noise. Using a dial gauge on the pushrod tip while baring the engine over by hand can see how much lift is on the lobe. You would need to check all of them unless you happen to find one that's really bad first.

Valves wearing down into the seats will cause the valve stem to move higher and tighten the lash which won't cause a ticking. A bent valve won't sit on the seat properly and will increase lash causing a ticking sound but you'll also have other issues.

 

All this being said, my Bosch III injectors are the loudest thing on this planet.

Even with brand new hood insulation you can hear them over everything, very clearly.

I'm going to replace them eventually for that reason alone. They're obnoxious.