Excessive head/valve train noise

[slo]

Hey guys...

Two days ago when I started the car in the morning, I heard a dreaded ticking sound coming from the head. The ticking increased volume and speed relative to the rpms. I just thought it would be lifters and thought not too much of it. This morning, the ticking sound is not there so much but a lot of valve train noise. It seriously sounds like the head's not getting any oil at all.

The oil pump's been changed this christmas along with the water pump. To see if I had something clogged in the system, I ran it (3 times) with the engine flush and ran some 0w-30, 5w-30 oil to see if that would help alleviate the noise. Nothing was changed. The excessive head/valve noises are still there.

Let's say there's debris some where that's preventing oil to get to the head. Where should I be looking at to physically get in there to clean? Are there any filters in the engine's lubricating system other than the oil filter?

Thanks in advance guys. I'm really depressed now since I love this car especially the motor that's in it.

Justin

[r34 gtr]

Do you have an oil pressure gauge? If so whats it reading?

Try taking off the valve covers and looking to see if there is anything that looks out of place.

[slo]

My oil pressure gauge is reading right at around 30~35psi at idle. It usually jumps up when on the road.

I took the valve covers off and looked but nothing really seems out of place. I was fortunate enough to locate a few lifters locally and decided to swap some of them out. I really didn't know what sticky lifters felt/looked like so I just took the ones out that seemed like they wouldn't compress at all.

Even after those stuck lifters were out, the noise is still there.....

Please help.....

[r34 gtr]

Are you by chance going to Paul van Dyk at Opera thursday night? Its off peachtree (like everything else). I will be there, and we could take a look at this thing.

You have way better oil pressure than me.

[slo]

Oh man... If you could stop by that would be awesome!!!

Downtown atl is about 20 minutes of a drive for me anyways. Do you know where varsity is? We should meet there. I could really use the help since there are like no ca drivers here in ga

[r34 gtr]

I won't have a car. I am riding with my roommate to this concert, boogying down, and riding back. I would love to swing by but I can't really seeing as I won't have a car.

What kind of "excessive noise" are we talking about here? My car is really loud with all the ticking and stuff from lifters, fuel injectors, and noisy ignition coils. Do the lifters turn freely in their recesses? How about the cams? If nothing seems wrong I don't really know what it could be. Is the noise any different than usual? Or is it just really loud?

[slo]

I believe it's like how you described it. I think it's a combination of noisy lifters, cams, and whatever else that's in the head portion of the motor just being really loud even at idle. I mean it's really sounds like it's running on no oil. But my oil pressure, like i said earlier, is around 30~35 psi at idle and around 70psi boosting....

[r34 gtr]

Man I have no idea. If nothing looks wrong, and it runs fine, its probably fine. You could always re-lubricate your lifters.

[bentvalves]

At one point in your motors life Im betting, the lifters were taken out, and not replaced from where they came, and now you have a noisy valvetrain.

I've never experienced this personally, but the guys at the shop that my father works at INSIST that they go back in their respective bores, or noisy head forever.

Greg

p.s cams, are they stock?

[slo]

The cams are stock. The lifters had never been taken out as far as I know. Besides, the noise started all of a sudden one morning....

[float_6969]

The lifters that are hard to compress are probably the good ones....

[slo]

What about the ones that seemed completely stuck? I tried to pump them up but they just didn't budge. You're saying those are good ones?

[slo]

I was just browsing through the factory service manual and it seems like there's a screen type looking thing in the oil pan. Any chance that screen could be clogged up? Anyone?

[r34 gtr]

Totally possible, but improbable. If you are really worried you might want to check it out though.

I have pulled my lifters several times, and replaced four. They have never gone back into their respective bores and its no noisier than it ever was. I think that guy is full of crap.

[bentvalves]

full of crap absolutley not.

Its common knowledge MAAN to pull a head apart and keep everything in order the way it came out, so it goes back where it came.

your retarded for not knowing that.

[slo]

C'mon guys, let's keep this thread nice and cool....

So you're saying that it's improbable that the oil pick up screen is clogged... Other than bad oil pump, bad bearings, and clogged oil pick up screen, what would cause the head to sound like it's not getting any oil?

[slo]

I found this video that has similar noise that my ca has. I have no idea what motor this is though....

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kqf...lated

what do you guys think?

[r34 gtr]

your retarded for not knowing that.

See sig for details.

OP,

Thats a 7m-gte in a mkIII supra.

Is it really that loud? Dayum! How about you do a compression test and tell me what you get? Mine is silky smooth and quiet compared to that. I don't' want you to have to go pulling the oil pan though if possible, that job sucks. Still, if you really want to, it would definitely clear up some things.

[superJoy]

I pulled my lifters out.

Didn't label them.

Stuck them in randomly when I got the head back from the machine shop.

Engine sounds fine.

CA lifters are all the same, cam on bucket there's nothing to screw up unless individual lifters are bad (then they'd be bad no matter WHERE they are)

[bentvalves]

ok fine im wrong and retarded then.

I kid, I kid.

there has to be someone else that practices similar procedure.

I've been told this since I was like 15 years old.

[superJoy]

I asked the guy at the machine shop when I took the block in if I needed to do anything special with the lifters when I pulled them. (i.e. if they needed to be labeled and such) He asked if they were cam on bucket, I said yes, he said... it doesn't matter.

If the things have to be shimmed or something (like solid lifters I guess?), if you didn't put them back in the same spot you'd have to reshim and that'd be a PITA. But the CA valvetrain isn't like that.

But yeah. What you're talking about IS common practice, just not for all engines.

[r34 gtr]

Yeah, I did it the first two times I disassembled the head, but after that I just stopped caring. Its been fine. I would agree though that if it weren't a cam on bucket design, it would be different.

Still, I'm stumped on the OP's problem. If everything looks fine and theres good oil pressure, why is it making so much noise all of a sudden?

Did you thrash the car the night before? Could it possibly be something else?

[slo]

I don't really over-rev or thrash on the motors. I rarely ever get it past 4k rpms. I try to save as much gas as I can but still have that potential to pin me back into the seat.

anyways, i'd really hate to pull the pan but I think I have to....

[IggyEGuana]

run it enough to cycle oil through the engine. (doesn't take long) Pull the valve covers and see if theres fresh oil in the head and it looks like it just got a ton of oil all over everything in there. If so and its everywhere (no dry areas) then you're good on oil. If not then mayb its a clogged oil gallery.