Intermittent Ticking Noise

[IDIoit]

FIRST thing i would do is check your manifolds for black soot.
maybe its an exhaust leak??


to check for a cracked flex plate is pretty easy,
with everything you went through i would:
get the engine up to temp so its making the tick you're hearing.
remove inspection plate on the trans,
start it up, and listen
if its still there, take the bolts out of the torque converter,
slide it back as far as it will go and try to wiggle the flywheel.
if it slides back enough, and youre comfortable with it, fire up the engine and listen for the tick.
in my experience with cracked flex plates they make more noise when you put it in gear.
they usually crack around the bolt holes for the crank.

 

[Hydro-idi]

FIRST thing i would do is check your manifolds for black soot.
maybe its an exhaust leak??


to check for a cracked flex plate is pretty easy,
with everything you went through i would:
get the engine up to temp so its making the tick you're hearing.
remove inspection plate on the trans,
start it up, and listen
if its still there, take the bolts out of the torque converter,
slide it back as far as it will go and try to wiggle the flywheel.
if it slides back enough, and youre comfortable with it, fire up the engine and listen for the tick.
in my experience with cracked flex plates they make more noise when you put it in gear.
they usually crack around the bolt holes for the crank.

There are no cracks in exhaust manifolds and no soot marks anywhere. exhaust system is pretty tight. I will have to inspect flexplate when I get a chance. Don't know what else it could be.

 

[dunk]

Put your hands around all the exhaust joints you can get to while it's idling. You'll feel the hot exhaust coming out of even a tiny leak that you wouldn't otherwise notice. Just don't touch anything. Failing that try taking your belts off and fire it up. Could be bearing just starting to go in one of the accessories. I had a clicking/ticking at idle and then the front bearing on my vacuum pump exploded. alternator bearings had a little slop too.

Could it be a worn rocker arm or pivot? Did you notice any wear? When in doubt you can check how much the lifters are preloaded. Rule of thumb on adjustable valvetrain is zero lash plus 1/2-3/4 turn. Non adjustable you measure and shoot for about .020" IIRC but it may vary with cam/lifter manufacturer and I don't know if it would be different for a roller cam. Could be one is a little loose and at higher RPM with more oil flow pumps up enogh to not have any slop in the lifter. Or the flexplate idea sounds reasonable. Could be cracked and getting ready to let go.

 

[IDIoit]

the way he rolls it, it would be all sooted up.

when you check the flex plate, make sure you check it in 3-4 places

 

[Hydro-idi]

the way he rolls it, it would be all sooted up.

when you check the flex plate, make sure you check it in 3-4 places

Haha yes it does smoke a little and I drive it like I stole it. These engines tend to run the best when your working them hard.
The entire exhaust system has been re-done and it has ticked with both the magnaflow and now my 4 inch exhaust setup. Exhaust manifolds are tight with no leaks. I did inspect the rockers and pushrods and they all looked great. Noise doesn't seem to be coming from the top of engine as much as from beneath truck. Who knows at this point. Maybe next week I will check out the flexplate and see whats going on with that. It's back in storage for now.

 

[IH Fanboy]

Did you ever figure out what the noise was coming from underneath? I have the same exact noise coming from under my 84 6.9 idi

 

[MtnHaul]

This is a pretty old thread so I doubt the OP will answer, but I had a couple ticking issues myself. One, after some bad driveshaft vibration due to a failed u-joint my clutch inspection cover plate was making slight contact with the flywheel and made a ticking sound. And two, one time my starter failed and the gear that normally extends to contact the flywheel and then retracts was not retracting properly and the gear was bouncing off the flywheel and made a very loud ticking sound. Somebody had suggested it might be "wrist pin slap" but I don't know what that sounds like. Best of luck to ya.

And oh yeah, welcome to the forum.

 

[captain720]

When I have strange noises I use the "dowel" or extension trick as was suggested in the thread and if I determine it's not engine internals I just fix things as they wear and look for the noise but if it's important it will get worse and than you will not be wondering anymore.