Uh oh..tick tick tick tick...please help.

[Hennyhog]

Hello All,
Finally got my 71' C-10 running strong and noticed about a week ago after getting on it merging into traffic a slight tick while at idle and low RPM's. I only drive the truck a few times per week and the next time I drove it I said to myself " Am I hearing things? Was this noise here before? Am I being overly worried about nothing?"

Well yesterday after work I just wanted to start it after not driving since Sunday and upon lifting the hood, I could hear a "tick tick tick..tick tick...tick tick tick..tick tick" Coming from the front of the drivers side valve cover. I looked around to see if a tie wrap or a the wrapper radiator hose was lightly touching the alternator or fan blade and that wasn't the case. As I manually opened the throttle to increase RPM's you couldn't hear it nearly as well or at all. Oil level is right on too BTW.

My guess it's a noise lifter or rocker arm? I do not want to drive it now until I get some advice on this matter and listen to what you guys have to say. Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Henny

[jabborabbo]

Does the tick frequency increase as you increase the rpms?

[57taskforce]

Sometimes it can be pretty hard to tell between a valve issue and an exhaust leak. Id check to make sure the manifolds arent leaking before jumping straight to the valvetrain.

[Coley]

This might be a loose rocker. Simply take off the valve cover and manually wiggle all of the rockers (engine off!...lol) and I'll bet you'll find your culprit....and maybe check both valve trains/both sides while you are at it.
My two bits.
Coley

[hugger6933]

Sounds like a loose rocker. When you have the cover off look at all of the studs to make double sure they are the same length. [What I'm saying here is that one of the studs may be working loose] But I sure don't mean to scare you it is a remote[very ]possibility.

[cdowns]

I'd go at the exhaust manifolds first before friggin with the valves . For the valves i'd try using marvel mystery oil first before anything

[chopnchaneled]

My tick turned out to be one of the spark plug wires had burned thur on the exhaust manifold.

[Xeen]

Originally Posted by chopnchaneled

My tick turned out to be one of the spark plug wires had burned thur on the exhaust manifold.

Yep that will do it, time to go buy a bunch of wire separators and go to town on it and get all the wires separated and routed properly.

[englands 71]

your tick could be an exhaust leak. My 70 nova had blown a gasket under the car where the header bolts to the exhaust.
could be lifter.
It could be a spark plug finding another ground. Turn the lights off in the garage tonight and see if you see a spark on that side in the dark.
Did you adjust or move the distributor ? Is the distributor nut tight ?

[Hennyhog]

Thank you all for the input! Luckily it was just an exhaust manifold leak. Front two bolts on header were pretty loose on drivers side so I tightened all of them. Noise isn't 100% gone but considerably quieter.....need to get some new header gaskets.