Chirping Noise - Lifters?

[HarryNW]

2013 Camaro 2SS/RS, AGP Twin Turbo Kit, Livernois Motorsports L92 Stage 2C Cam.

About 3 weeks ago I started getting a chirping noise. Occurs at all RPMs, decreases a little bit when at temperature, but still there.

The build team and I thought maybe needle bearings from one or more of the rocker arm trunnion bearings OR that there is some kind of bad contact on the rollers.

We replaced the rocker arms + trunnions and the issue seemed to disappear temporarily, but after a few runs on the dyno, the sound returned exactly as before. Build team stethoscoped the heads/valvetrain area and it seems to emanate from the block, not the exhaust or belts. Again, it is NOT the belts. It is strongest in the valve cover area, but sound does travel, so hard to know for sure.

The fact that the sound went away for a short period of time following the trunnion/rocker arms replacement has to be important? I thought maybe an oil flow issue that was temporarily abated by the manual oiling/greasing of the trunnions/rocker arms during replacement, but again removing the valve cover appears to show normal lubrication.

Sent the oil filter out for detailed inspection and it showed no bits of metal or anything that would indicate fragments. Came up clean.

Video of the Ticking/Chirping here: https://youtu.be/5E3CuR-y7xA

Lifters? Typically a bad lifter is a ticking noise, not a chirping sound.

Any thoughts? Hoping to avoid a complete teardown.

[Russell James]

When the rockers were worked on, were the pushrods looked at closely? A PR rub can sound like that. I'd roll all the PRs on glass to make sure none are bent, and look real close for any rub marks on them.

Maybe pull that valve cover off and spin the motor with the starter, fuel pump and injector fuses out. See if you hear that noise while it's cranking and the valve cover is off.

A friend of mine put 1.6 rockers on a SBC. It then made a chirping noise similar to your video. The longer rockers put the push rods too close to the head, a couple were rubbing. Too fat a PR or a bent one, can cause rubbing.

[mrimpala02]

It could be a lifter. I had lifter failure last year before my turbo install. It started out as a chirp and became a tick.

When it became a tick I ended up having to replace cam and lifters. I took that time to also install LS9 head gaskets and head studs. There was not any metal in my oil btw. So it could have gotten worse if neglected.

See my thread:http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=471435

[christianchevell]

Your belt sound is all I can hear other than normal typewriter.....It could be the stock POS "balancer" falling apart as its not meant for a more radical cam and not a balancer at all and certainly not a harmonic balancer, mines a paper weight in my storage shed. seen pics of them fallen apart on here before them and the cheaper SLP under drives. Its basically a weight with two parts separated by rubber that may stop the slightest of vibrations from a stock cam.....And its internally balanced so.....it is just a pulley in other words and can fall apart check the rubber......I use a fluidampr that under drives only the electric since I am at 950 idle...... no low voltage problem or a/c problem.

[HarryNW]

I had an inquiry on this thread via direct PM, so I thought I would post an update:

After the original builder supposedly inspected the oil filter and reported no signs of any issues, I decided on a second opinion. The results were shocking.

The issue ended up being damaged lifter roller bearings. The original builder that installed my new cam, valves, valve springs, etc. failed to properly measure and adjust the valves, causing excessive valve float and lifter failure. The impact of the rocker arms in the valve float behavior carried through the rods to the lifters, and eventually 3 of the 8 lifter roller bearings began to fail. The chirping sound was the sound of seized lifter rollers grinding on the cam.

Ultimately the engine required an entire pull and tear-down, as there was measurable metallic particles of lifter rollers, lifter roller bearings and cam throughout the engine. Literally teaspoons of fine metal dust/debris in the oil filter and oil pan. Required new cam, lifters, valve-train, rocker arms and a complete tear-down to clean the engine of debris and ensure no other damage due to debris.

The car spent 6 months under cover waiting for it's turn at a good builder's shop and another 3 months completing the work and new tune. Needless to say, an expensive experience, and a reminder to make sure your builder is a perfectionist on the valve-train.

[frankwjr]

wow bud...glad you finally got it sorted..and that the block was O.K...that would have really sucked...



AND KUDOS! for following up from almost 1 yr ago!


peace.

[jergarr]

Thats tough to see happen but its good hear you got it all sorted out. How many miles were on it before the lifters began to fail?

[Reaper85]

Is the original builder helping or helped with the costs at all?

[HarryNW]

Less than 15K miles on the new cam et all. A damn shame. Although I parted ways relatively amicably with the original builder, it's a small world here in Seattle with really only two local builders worth their salt, so I decided to eat the cost and stay friendly.

Irony is that the only reason I did not go with my preferred local builder (Brad's Custom Auto) here in Seattle was because I was impatient to move forward with my AGP Twin Turbo kit. Hindsight is clear - it's worth the wait to go with the best guy in town. Brad did a great job on the rebuild.

[VASTREETRACER]

That sucks. I just had a lifter fail. Wiped the cam and damaged the lifter bore. I picked up a crate engine from Chevrolet the next day and am hopefully installing it this weekend, with a new cam and my blower.