Thread: New Ticking Noise Cold Start

The GP SE 3100 has been going strong for awhile now. Haven't really had to work on it. It's sitting at 87k miles now.

The other day I started noticing a new ticking noise that seems to come somewhere from the underside of the engine on a cold start. Cold start meaning like 85 degrees outside at start but hasn't been run since the day or days before.

Now my engine has always had piston slap. But that's more of a slap slap slap slap noise. This is more of a loud tick tick tick tick noise. It goes away when warmed up just like the piston slap. It follows the RPM of the engine.

When I got the car at 36k miles it had a little lifter tick. I put some MMO in the oil and drove it around for a few days (very lightly) which cleared it right up, but I remember that sounding like it came from the top, not the bottom.

It started abruptly a few days ago. Should I be concerned or is this just an evolution of the good ol' piston slap?

Tough to say, there's really not enough info to go on.

Sorry been super busy, but was just able to grab a video of it. All the fluid levels are fine and none of the fluids look bad on the dipsticks. I've already done the head and intake gaskets with the metal FelPros. Seems to go away after being driven for a little bit.

Ignore the oily appearance underneath. I get it rust sprayed on a regular basis and just had it done. I inspected underneath before the spraying and didn't have any obvious leaks anywhere.

Tapping noise - YouTube

do a oil change but use 40 weight oil.

if it goes away its the lifters gleeding off over night and not pumping up to quickly, gm actually says its ok if only does for a couple minutes or so.

Weird. When I first got it it had lifter tick but it sounded like it was coming from the top. This sounds like its from the bottom side.

I grabbed some MMO since that quieted it down substantially last time. I'll put some in and putt around lightly before I drop the oil. If it doesn't work I'll toss that oil in. If it works that weight is cool for winter right?

Here's what it sounds like after a 20 minute drive, purring like a kitten: No ticking - YouTube

I figured it out. It was the damn inspection cover below the flexplate getting smacked by a flywheel bolt. It looks to be cracked in multiple places and shifted out of place. It must have gotten smacked by something on the road. I did notice one of the flexplate bolts isn't 100% straight and almost positive that's what's hitting it and making the noise. Does it matter that the bolt isn't flush?

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Strangely enough the bolt is bent in the opposite direction of what it would have bent if the cover had caused it. In other words it's bent in the opposite direction of rotation. I also noticed behind the bolt where it bolts onto the torque converter you can see the back end of the bolt. Some of the threads are "shaved" out of the hole. This definitely happened at the factory. Seems like the hole might not have been fully cut and they just forced it through on the line.

damn, thats a odd deal. at least its not inside the engine.