92zeddar

well it turns out that it isn't a header leak... we are thinking that it is a lifter or rocker arm... boys is it loud now!! hahaha those cast manifolds must have kept alot of it covered well.. or it just went recently.... oh well I can live with it till I do the swap in the fall/winter... or hopefully it unsticks or something.. or does anyone know of a good additive to put in?

palric

iTrader: (1)

Way back when I had my '88 Formula my engine developed a very loud and annoying tick-tick-tick noise and after careful consideration the mechanic(s) and I decided it was in fact a sticky lifter. This made sense seeing as I beat on the old 305 so thoroughly.

So I took the manifold off and pulled the lifters disassembling each one (they were rollers) to see which one had either collapsed or had gunked up. Couldn't find sign of either condition but I installed new roller lifters anyway. After putting everything back together again the car made the same loud annoying tick-tick-tick noise. And it was just as loud as before even with $400 worth of new lifters. I was pretty pissed.

We didn't know what it was. Then by chance I pulled a spark plug wire away from the header to clear some space (number 8 I think) and the noise instantly went away. It turned out a wire had gone bad from getting too close to the header and although there was no sign of melted insulation it nonetheless was a bad wire. I replaced it with some ceramics from Jacobs and never had the problem again. Too bad about the lifters eh ? What a waste.

Maybe you've checked all your wires already ? If not I strongly recommend doing so you may save yourself alot of grief.

thx,
RP.

92zeddar

Really? Holy ch**st you might have it...I know for a fact that one boot on that side that is making the noise is pretty crappy.. Like the rubber boot is half off.. but that is all I could find in a short notice... I will look at it tomorrow.. and if it is I OWE you big time..
Thanks man..

andy.h

Hi Palric
its Andy here from Australia. i have a 1986 Z28 which was sitting for a while. and had some work done to it, then it developed a very bad tick. i was sure it was a sticky lifter. Flushed the system , made no difference. was about to pull the valley cover off ( really wasn't looking forward to it ) then i read your reply and found the noise was coming from around the distributer. gave it a wiggle , noise when away. I can't thank you enough. you saved me a lot of money, time. very grateful . i can see why your a supreme member.
Thanks again
regards Andy