Ticking Sound

[turborayjay]

My 87 has a somewhat loud ticking sound coming from the Throttle Body area. As the car warms up the sound starts to go away.

It is hard to tell exactly where the sound is coming from, however it does seem to be more in the center of the motor, rather than a rocker arm.

I had a Ford pickup that had a lash adjuster problem that did the same thing, however the buick has a different valve system.

Any ideas?

 

[OKTurbo]

It's probably the Cam Sensor....fairly common for these to tick when the engine is cold. Get a long screwdriver and put it on the cam sensor cap and put the handle up to your ear to confirm that that's where the sound is coming from.

Mine does the same thing. You can take the cam sensor out...pull off the gear, and shim it....this has helped some guys get rid of the noise. The "wavy spring" on these things gets old and they tend to get noisy. Mine quiets down once the engine warms up...when the oil pressure goes down. I suspect the main reason the sensor makes noise is due to the high oil pressure (the cam sensor drives the oil pump) when the engine's cold.

HTH,
John

 

[turborayjay]

John, thanks for the tip. My wife is a nurse so i borrowed a set of her stethoscopes. It is definately the cam sensor.

Seems like it got louder after the recent oil change. I used a 50W oil vs the 30w that was in it. Will the higher oil weight also produce higher oil pressures and a louder noise?

Ray

 

[DKREDT]

I got sick of the tick and put a new GM cam sensor in. Nice and tight now, no more ticks and noise.

If you replace it or pull it to shim, make sure to get the Casper's cam sensor setting tool from one of the vendor's for $30 or so.

You will be glad you did.

Joel