Cracked Header ???

[Justin85]

I'm chasing down a issue with my car. At warm Idle the cars BLMS are 138 and the car makes a strange ticking that increases with rpm. I believe its a cracked header can anyone else confirm?

 

[earlbrown]

Is the sound on that video accurate to what you hear in real life? If so, that sounds more like a rod than an exhaust leak. If you're lucky it's loose torque converter bolts.

If the soundtrack isn't accurate and you're never welded up the DS header, it's defiantly cracked.

 

[Justin85]

Yes that's the sound but I took a stethoscope and listen to the valve covers and all that and it doesn't sound internal. I'll look into the Bolts. I don't think its a rod. My first thought was valve train but it seems to be more underneath the car. Its a very strange noise and under load while driving cannot really be heard.

 

[earlbrown]

That sounds like loose torque converter bolts then. Easy fix.

 

[1fastcobra]

Ck the fly wheel bolts aswell !!!

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[Chuck Leeper]

If it's a header crack, smoke test it. You'll see where the leak are.

 

[phil_jordan]

Thats crazy. My carbmakes the exact same noise. Never thought to check the converter bolts though. Hey OP, does it get worse when you put it in drive? Mine sound is very slight at idle, but when i put it in drive, it seems more...defined I guess

 

[earlbrown]

If it's torque converter bolts, they should shut up once a load is put on them. At idle, the noise is due to the bolts banging back and forth in there bores.


Also, while you're there, check the flexplate for cracks.

 

[phil_jordan]

I'll check everything I can Earl. The knock sensor picks it up for sure tho.

 

[3.8L V-8 eater]

It could be a partially blown header gasket...Just blew out a little piece of the drivers header gasket at the track and found it with a mirror... It was on the side of the header facing the firewall...Sounded similar to the video

 

[Justin85]

Crazy enough I drained all the VR-1 and put some 10-30 Pennzoil with EOS from GM and the car is smoother then ever the noise is gone. I'm thinking I might have overfilled the oil a bit the first oil change. Rookie mistakes :{ Next oil change I'm going to try VR-1 again but if it dose this again never again will vr-1 go near my car.

 

[earlbrown]

Sounds like we're back to a rod bearing....


Would you happen to be running a short stock replacement Fram or Delco oil filter?

 

[87_we4]

I run vr1 in my car all the time with no such problems. Sounds like you need to drop the oil pan and have a look
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[Justin85]

No I have the Ac Delco long neck filter with the Anti Drain back. The car is normal again like it was before. I don't think anything else is wrong here. I cut open my oil filters to check for metals as well nothing is wrong with the oil. No metal or nothing was present. The only issue I'm chasing down now is why I cant get my boost over 10 PSI once I fooled around with my RJC boost controller.

 

[earlbrown]

Those Delco filters are crap now. They've went overseas with the manufacturing. Try and stick with Wix, Baldwin, Pure ONE, Mobil1, or NAPA Gold.

 

[Justin85]

Ok I'll note that for the next Oil change.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

My $.02... changing oils didn't quiet it down, the EOS did.
Back to what Earl said: Rod brg.

 

[Justin85]

Its a pretty fresh motor its hard to see that being the issue. What kind of money are we talking here to fix this. I'm not really in the mood to do another rebuild... And I was almost 100$ sure it was sticky lifters or a collapsed lifter? The only issue I'm facing now is I cant get more then 10-12 pounds of boost out of the car. I played with my RJC boost controller and it just wont get back to 15 like before. What causes this issue I'm pretty lost.

 

[Justin85]

also that video kind of sounds worse then real life. In real life it sounds more like valve train. The car doesn't make that noise with load as well.

 

[earlbrown]

If the engine noises changed from just an oil change you have something going on inside there.

You mentioned a recent rebuild. That's some scary shit as there are MANY instances in these engines failing right out of the rebuild process. Common ailments are flat tappet cams going south, main bearing problems from improper billet main cap installation, wiping bearings from improper oiling, and everybody's favorite... head gaskets.

On your engine I'd be checking the oil pan for sparkles and looking inside some caps.