Ticking noise

[C-WAY]

Hey guys as you know I did a cam swap about 2 months ago
Stock p-rods
LS6 Springs
218/228 .525 .525 112 LSA

...Everything ran smoothly until I went to Austin for thanksgiving and when I came back the ticking got louder. Its not a slow tick its more a of a constant tick from 2000 RPMS up and sounds like its coming from the engine. I also did the cat delete recently and welded pipe in place, and dont see any major leaks? The truck only has 37,000 Miles on it and if it is a dead or sticky lifter why would it be going out this quick? I know its not the piston slap issue cause its constant all the time. It actually tends to be louder at cold startups. Ive heard of people upgrading to LS7 Lifters but dont the 4.8/5.3s like 06 and up come stock with LS7 lifters? some people say this noise is normal but it cant be since the noise got worse. I have a DTC that comes up sometimes then goes away for long periods of time and Allen told me its either a little vac leak or a bad 02 sensor, I dont know if it has to do with that though. Im taking it to the dealer tommorow, I have a friend who works up there whos gonna check it out for me. If its a bad lifter, how hard and expensive is it to replace it? Could it possibly be a loose header bolt or have to do with welding pipe in place of my cats? Any knowledge to this problem is greatly appreciated!

[RedHeartbeat]

Ticking is many times an exhaust leak or pinhole.

[C-WAY]

Hopefully it is

Do you think I need to run longer p-rods? Im not sure of the base circle on my cam but everyone else said I wouldnt need them. The cam is the LS1 Hot cam. Cause if it has a smaller base circle I would need longer ones or else it would cause a lifter to fail?

[ff_jeff]

Mine and yours have the same base circle... I used 7.4 hi-tech (hardened) push rods from comp... but they are stock length. Go do this. Get an oil change and put a bottle of rislone in it at oil change. Should make the ticking go away if its a lifter. If its an exhaust leak, you should be able to crawl under the truck while its running and hear it. If you do a cold start up, you might be able to spray a little soapy water on a suspected leak point, and get big bubbles. But this wont work on the headers, because they get too hot too fast. I remember I had to tighten my header bolts a few times because of a slight leak. But for gods sake don't break a bolt lol.
I believe its a sticky lifter. Probably has some trash in the oil. Rislone should fix you up.

[C-WAY]

I was thinking the same thing. Ive never used Rislone but hopefully it will solve my problem! So I basically pour it in and let it idle for a little bit and check the results? Do I need to get an oil change directly after? Wierd thing is I got an oil change like a week or so ago with castrol syntec and thought that would help out but it didnt. Ill check for exhaust leaks tonight while its cold and do the rislone before I take it to the dealer in the morning. Thanks so much Jeff for the advice!

Do the newer engines though have LS7 Lifters? Its a rumor that has been in my mind lately

[RedHeartbeat]

read the instructions on the bottle of Rislone. I believe it says to not drive the vehicle while the product is in the engine. The Rislone is a thinning agent to wash away the built up gunk in the engine. Again, read the instructions before driving the truck with the Rislone in the engine.

[GasGuzzler]

Double check the rocker boss bolt torque.

[ducky]

Yeah I would say JUST to be on the safe side pull the valve covers and re tighten the rockets again. I had the same ticking, except mine was horrendously loud and two rockers were loose and not seated properly

[ff_jeff]

Yeah I would say JUST to be on the safe side pull the valve covers and re tighten the rockets again. I had the same ticking, except mine was horrendously loud and two rockers were loose and not seated properly

why werent the seated David?

[ducky]

why werent the seated David?

Hey it was how I bought the engine. They were seated when I put the new gaskets on the valve covers. Just didnt think to tighten.