Scary Sound, Need some Help...

What's up everybody. Yesterday I encountered a ticking noise coming from, what I think was the DS top part of the motor. I started early in the morning moved it down the driveway and no sound was there. Late in the afternoon I started it to take it for a drive, and this sound was there. It was loud enough to here inside the cab, so I got out and started looking around with it still idling. I found it was coming from the Driver-side half of the motor, probably in the valve-train. It almost sounded like a stuck valve. This might've been a dumb decision, but I rev'ed it up to about 2-2.5k rpm and the noise just disappeared. Let it idle awhile all the gauges looked fine (Oil Temp, A/F, Oil Press.), it was idling fine, and then took it out for a spin. Drove completely normal and no noises. The oil was changed less than 800 miles ago.

The truck has 16k miles and hasn't had a problem, besides 2yrs. ago when I discovered a bolt in the oil pan @ 4500 miles. Long story short, I brought it in, and the mechanic(s) at dodge assumed it backed out from under-tightening. They ended up replacing the valve spring girdle on the driver side. Since that, nothing has gone wrong or any weird noises have popped up. Scared the shit out of me when I heard the noise, got me thinking maybe I should get another extended warranty cause the one I had expired last year.

Has anyone had this happen or heard of this happening? Really clueless right now...

If this sounds comes back I'll be sure to get a video and post it here.

Pull of your valve covers see what you can see. Look for broken spring, bent rods, and if everything looks good do a leak down test. If you find one with a higher loss scope that cylinder. Hopefully its nothin big

I'll probably end up doing that in the next few weeks. The truck is never driven anyway. I really don't see how anything major could be wrong with it. There's never been noises, no lose in power, etc. These Viper motors sure are fragile in stock form... It's really ashame they didn't come forged and built strong from the factory.

there are thin metal baffles in top of the valve covers that on one end sometimes come in contact with lifters .check that before you start to freak out

There have been several members with the same noise that you are describing. Most of the time it's a collapsed lifter under normal operation or a bent rod (rpm's too high). My guess its a bad lifter.

What ironnugget meant to say was baffle screws can come loose or ROCKER ARM come loose and contact each other. Different metals and temp changes cause a stretch/shrink effect on parts. If clearance isn't sufficient, you'll hear it.
Springs can and will break ! Especially on low mileage engines that are rarely driven. Springs hate staying in a compressed position for long periods!!
Drive your trucks!!!

VENOMOUS1 RACING said:

What ironnugget meant to say was baffle screws can come loose or ROCKER ARM come loose and contact each other. Different metals and temp changes cause a stretch/shrink effect on parts. If clearance isn't sufficient, you'll hear it.
Springs can and will break ! Especially on low mileage engines that are rarely driven. Springs hate staying in a compressed position for long periods!!
Drive your trucks!!!

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That's great advice.:rock:

Alright but what I don't get is the sound went away just like that, within a matter of a second... If it was a bent rod or broken spring/lifter why would the sound just disappear?

I'll be taking the valve cover off, probably next weekend, if it's a lifter/spring (something I can access without going further in the motor) I might install it myself. I really don't want to throw the timing off by having to uninstall/install parts, then have to reset the timing and the whole shebang. If it's something major the truck will just sit.

VENOMOUS1 RACING said:

Springs hate staying in a compressed position for long periods!!
Drive your trucks!!!

Click to expand...

what are "long" periods ?
1 week , 1 month , 3 months...???:dontknow:

how long did she sit before this????

sounds like a lifter.

if she drove fine, no miss or roughness, i would let her sit as long if not longer & try her again.

the recent oil change is what is pointin to a lifter bleed down

ZCx said:

how long did she sit before this????

sounds like a lifter.

if she drove fine, no miss or roughness, i would let her sit as long if not longer & try her again.

the recent oil change is what is pointin to a lifter bleed down

Click to expand...

Actually not too long, I drove it to work last week for 2 days, which is the only 2 times I've driven it since the 1st week of December. It sat for about 5 days until yesterday. Like I said I started it up moved it ~20ft, it sat for 6 hrs. Started it up again and the noise was there...

IF I can't see anything with the cover off, then I'll just drive it as little as possible. I'm not mechanically inclined enough to take out the lifters and push-rods and then reset the timing... I always planned on getting a 710 cam, with lifters, springs, and rods; and having it installed. So whenever I do that I'll find out what's really wrong.

If anybody has a how-to, diagram, or instructions on removing/assembly of the valve-train please post it. Removing the VC should be a 30min. job. However, digging into the valve train I don't know about that.

Srt10ram said:

Actually not too long, I drove it to work last week for 2 days, which is the only 2 times I've driven it since the 1st week of December. It sat for about 5 days until yesterday. Like I said I started it up moved it ~20ft, it sat for 6 hrs. Started it up again and the noise was there...

IF I can't see anything with the cover off, then I'll just drive it as little as possible. I'm not mechanically inclined enough to take out the lifters and push-rods and then reset the timing... I always planned on getting a 710 cam, with lifters, springs, and rods; and having it installed. So whenever I do that I'll find out what's really wrong.

If anybody has a how-to, diagram, or instructions on removing/assembly of the valve-train please post it. Removing the VC should be a 30min. job. However, digging into the valve train I don't know about that.

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Start with removing that cover and doing a visual and feel all rockers. Look at bottom of cover and see if contact was made. You can remove rockers and check pushrods. No timing involved with that or lifter removal. A broken spring doesn't always make noise.

Sammy11 said:

what are "long" periods ?
1 week , 1 month , 3 months...???:dontknow:

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Thats a good question what is a long periods

Does it sound like this? Is it a continuous thing or only every few minutes?

http://www.vtcoa.com/forums/f7/driver-side-random-engine-knock-valve-cover-55236/

Psycho Mythic said:

Does it sound like this? Is it a continuous thing or only every few minutes?

http://www.vtcoa.com/forums/f7/driver-side-random-engine-knock-valve-cover-55236/

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Nope don't think so. It was consitent with the idle rpm and sounded metallic.

Mine is in storage and I go once a week to start it and let it get to operating temp, 10-15min, will this cause a problem by not actually driving it, I'm not taking it out in the snow and salt? Anything better I can do?? thanks

i have left mine(in the garage) for a month at a time(without starting it) on a regular basis for years with no problem

SANCHOBA said:

i have left mine(in the garage) for a month at a time(without starting it) on a regular basis for years with no problem

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It seems to me like we all have totally different trucks. What I mean is some guys leave their trucks in storage and no problems, others hardly drive their trucks and yet have problems, some guys boost on stock internals and make pass after pass at the track no issues, some guys boost and blow the engine a week later. Hell I have 122k miles on original engine and transmission and havne't really had any issues. Each truck just seems to have its own personality.