I just recently noticed a ticking on start. It"s gone in 1-3 min of normal driving not giving her sh*t. Oil lvl. is fine grade is good.

Any clue's ? exhaust manifold? i have a stethoscope but still not sure its loud everywhere

1997 4.3 4x4

 

usually a ticking noise on start that goes away after a few minutes indicates low oil pressure to the lifters in the engine. one way to check is to change your oil to a heavier weight like a straight 50. if the ticking goes away .....start by checking your oil pressure it should hold steady at around 40psi with an increase under higher rpm's .

you didnt specify how many miles on the motor ...but being its a 97 i would assume has over a 150,000 miles on it . the 50 weight oil is only a temporary fix !! something is going bad to cause a drop in pressure and needs to be fixed.

 

sadchevy, simply dumping in a higher viscosity oil is a bad idea especially in winter time. You are more likely to harm then help your engine.
You need to read this and learn a bit more about motor oil I think. http://www.motoroildealer.com/tech_a...ity/index.html


Insufficient oil flow to the lifters is generally the cause of cold start ticking but a heaver oil will only make the problem worse not better.
Instead you should try cleaning your oil system first to remove the engine sludge and gunky deposits that are restricting oil flow.

You can try a cleaning cocktail that has worked for me for many years on many engines. It is two quarts tranny fluid, one bottle of seafoam and then top up with 5w30.
Let it run for a while but don't drive it around.
Then drain it and change the filter and fill with the recommended 5w30

If the problem persists then you may have already progressed to a physical problem with the lifters due to lack of lubrication. But that usually only happens when the ticking is continuous rather then just on startup.

 

you are right AWE. its not the best way to go.but if you have worn main beaings causing a drop in oil pressure to the lifters it will SEEM to fix the problem. hence why i said it is only temporary.
as for cleaning solutions, the lower viscosity of the solution and the affects of removing the sludge and deposits may actually cause a lower drop in oil pressure on a worn motor than already is present possibly causing worse problems.
i'm not an expert by no means , only know what has worked for me in the past. all said and done I do agree with you. learning is an ongoing experience.

 

I had the same problem with my 2001, turned out to be a leaky head gasket into the engine diluting the oil. Changed the gasket and flushed the oil a few times and it was ok. I have 7000 miles on it since the repair. I'd check and see if your losing anti freeze. The oil level may seem fine , but could actually be low and the added antifreeze makes it look normal.

 

you can pressure check the cooling system to see if its leaking anywhere and autozone has a loan a tool for doing it. if you have coolant in the oil it should look kinda milky or if your coolant has a gas smell to it it could be a headgasket.

 

A blown head gasket would show far more significant issues then a few seconds of lifter tick on startup.

 

Change youre oil out and youll be fine. your oil has contaminants in it probably from your leaky intake gaskets.

i would never use 5w30 in anything, i up till recent ran 10-30 in the blazer now i have 15w40. as for running this in the cold, ive ran other vehicles over the years with 15w40/20w50 with no issues in the winter. Just have to let it warm up before you start to drive. They want you to believe you need that **** water 5w30 ****

 

my dads truck does the same thing, his intake manifold gasket has got some holes. once it heats up and the gasket swells it goes away.

solution: he just lives with it. lol

 

The only difference between 5w30 and 10w30 is that the 5w30 is just a bit thinner when it is cold. Once the engine has reached normal operating temperature both oils are EXACTLY THE SAME. The only time the 5W-30 oil is "thin" is at cold start up conditions where you need it to be so that you are not running without proper oil flow and causing extra wear on your engine components.

Perhaps you should read a bit about how modern motor oils actually work. There IS a reason why a specific oil viscosity is recommended for an engine. They don't just pull numbers out of their a** to try and trick you into using a "**** water oil" as you call it.