LS1 Engine Noise

Messenger made a similar post, but my problem may not be the same...

I have a 2000 Firehawk and whenever I start it up, the engine makes a tick-tick-tick noise. Once it warms up, it's better, but still noticeable.

I've had this noise since the car has had about 20,000 miles on it. It now has 28,000 miles on it and it's getting louder and louder. To be honest, it's at the point where I personally think it's a bit embarrassing.

I've done maybe 5 peel-outs and it's been to the track twice (after it was broken in), but for the most part it's a "pleasure car" that I've just taken on trips or driven to work on nice days. It's definitely not been driven hard or been hot-rodded. Otherwise, it sits in the garage and gets rubbed with a baby diaper. When new, I got oil changes every 1500-to-2000 miles. Now, I do it every 3 months, and I put on less than 1500 miles a year. Furthermore, it's been inspected and serviced at regular intervals (plus a few more whenever I had time to squeeze it in for a check-up).

So, here are my two questions...

1> What could the ticking noise be? 2> If it's piston slap, will Pontiac fix it under warranty (I have the pimp daddy extended warranty until August of 2006)?

I figured I'd get a heads up before I take it in and have some dealer mechanic whisper a bunch of bullshit in my ear.

Thanks for any help you can offer...

FH674 Gary

Reply to
Firehawk674
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ticking noise could be a noisy fuel injector. try popping the hood and see if you can isolate it. (they sell mechanic stethescopes pretty cheap, or just use a big screwdriver held to your ear.)

if you rev it up, does it change - get faster? go away? get louder?

Ray

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news

Hi,

I don't know pretty well LS1 but I had the same problem after upgrade my roller rockers from1.5 to 1.6 on my LB9 It was a preload adjustment problem. On modern engine (since 1987) V8 were equiped with hydrolic lifters. An hydrolic lifter needs to be adjusted. An easy way to proceed: if you have manual tranny, put it in fourth (ratio

1:1), and check for each rocker(and pushrod). To do so, proceed following the firing order (1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 on my engine, it should be the same on yours unless you've upgraded your cam with a modified order: cyl 4 and 7 I guess).

Turn your engine so the piston is in TDC position, the intake valve will start to open. Just before that point (were intake starts to open) try to turn your pushrod with your two fingers, you should turn it but not too easily, you should feel a small resistance in turning it. If it turns too freely, tighten A LITTLE the bolt that holds in place your rocker (turn it 1/4 turn and check again). Repeat the operation for exhaust valve. set it in position just before exhaust starts opening and check. Then repeat for each cylinder. It takes about 1 hour to do it well, but when it's done....!!! your engine will run like before! of course if that was the cause. I did it on my LB9 and geez....it is very powerfull and noiseless.

"Firehawk674" a écrit dans le message de news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...

Reply to
j

Hi Ray,

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, there's been a lot going on this week.

I ended up taking the car out for a nice long drive (city and expressway) for a couple hours.

Here's what she's been doing...

Start up - Loud tick-tick-tick Warm - Quiet tick-tick-tick Hot (long drive) - No noise at all Revving after start-up - Gets faster and the "tick" gets much louder (may even describe it as a dull "tong tong" noise) Revving while warm - Gets faster, gets slightly louder Revving after it's nice and hot - Nothing noticeable

Please excuse my "tick" and "tong" descriptors... I'm kind of a dumbshit when describing sounds...

Any other thoughts (on the car... not on me being a dumbshit... heh heh)?

FH674 Gary

Reply to
Firehawk674

That sounds like maybe valvetrain noise? Lifter noise? Bent pushrod? Ever overrevved it?

I'm not 100% sure, and considering I can't change a tie rod on the wife's Beretta this weekend and get the toe anywhere close I'm considering taking up cake decorating as a hobby instead of breaking cars so I don't know if I can offer anything useful other than 'hawks are nice. :) You did say you have the extended warranty, right? Can you bring it in and see what they say?

Ray

Reply to
ray

Quoting FH674:

Hi. New to the group. Figured I may be able to help.

I had a very similar situation with my '00, also very low mileage. It was piston slap, but it took me till my car was almost out of warranty to convince the dealer something actually was wrong. They played the "denial game" until I got pretty nasty. Don't let them push you around, it can be an expensive fix - make them pay for it...

Ken

Reply to
ken_ripley_car

I think there's a TSB on the piston slap noise and the oil consumption (rings) but unless you trust your dealer to overhaul your engine and not make it worse you decide to live with it... they don't just give you a new engine...

Reply to
ray

Reply to
Tom

Reply to
Tom

That's fine and dandy, but that sure doesn't speak well about the durability of the LSX engine family, does it? Injector noises, holes in intake, low-end knocks, high-end knocks, younameit....

Piston slap is no secret. Been out since the Vette got the LS1 in 97 and all the gasser truck v8s have had it.

GM says "It's normal".

Unfortunately, it is. Now as for those abnormal non-knocking engines.....

Reply to
alfredB18

That's fine and dandy, but that sure doesn't speak well about the durability of the LSX engine family, does it? Injector noises, holes in intake, low-end knocks, high-end knocks, younameit....

Piston slap is no secret. Been out since the Vette got the LS1 in 97 and all the gasser truck v8s have had it.

GM says "It's normal".

Unfortunately, it is. Now as for those abnormal non-knocking engines.....

Reply to
alfredB18

I think the Gen III series is probably the highest performing, most reliable version of the small block.

I'll live with a bit of cold piston slap to go 12.18 with nothing more than a set of drag radials and a shot of juice (100hp) and 34 mpg on the highway.

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news

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