after my truck has sits awhile, over night or 4 or more hours. on start-up the motor ticks, not clacking but ticking for about 20 seconds. my guess is its the valves but i'm not sure. i got about 155k on it and have always maintained it well, it stills drives smooth and accelerates well. no other engine noises. so tell me peeps, what is it and whats it gonna cost me.

ps, i have already tried easy fixes like oil treatments and back flow filters...

 

How loud of a tick?

Like, if you roll down the windows and don't breather you can hear it or what? How often does it tick? Is it a random tick, or does it go with the RPM, i.e., if you give it gas, does the tick get faster?

I would GUESS its a lubrication thing, not a big deal. Cold engines make more noise than warm ones. Hot engines are lubed, all the parts are expanded, etc etc.

If its a random tick, it could be the cast iron manifolds heating up and expanding, which is also normal.

 

Over the years I've seen lots of guys ask about it on this forum. Not sure if there is a consensus, but it is the opinion of many that the fuel injectors are often responsible. They can get noisy and make a noticeable ticking. You seem to hear it most when parked after a cold start-up, and it will vary with rpm. If that's what yours is doing and there are no other symptoms, it doesn't seem to cause any problems.

 

There are a handful of later model 4.6s with upper engine noises where replacing the offending cylinder head is supposed to be the fix. I don't know if yours is one, but with 155K on it, I kinda doubt it.

 

this only a cold engine tick, the thing that bothers me about it is until a couple months ago it never did it before. its not a loud tick but i can here it when windows are up and parked. it goes away at idle after about 20 sec. or so and in driving conditions after a bout a mile down the road. i had the fuel injectors replaced about 25k ago... and its not a fuel ping.

 

Do a cold start with the hood up. Have someone else start it so you can listen; you might be able to get a better read on it.

 

i dont need to have some one start it for me i lift the hood, start the motor and walk over to it and listen, jesus...lmao. like i said, i think its the valves tapping i'm asking if anyone knows if there is an easy fix other than a top end rebuild.

 

There very well might be a quick fix, but you should know exactly what is tapping before you consider rebuilding the top end. The fuel rails can be deceivingly noisy at startup.

 

Take a stethoscope and pull the end off of it and put a short solid metal rod or small copper tube in the end. Use it as a probe. Start it up cold, and walk outside and put that probe in the valve covers, you should be able to hear it loud and clear i believe.

 

Mine does it too, along with my '90 Cutlass and 02 Accord. It's normal. It takes a few seconds to get the oil up to the heads. What you hearing is the noise from the valves. I switched to Mobil 1 and it decreased the time some, but still does it regardless. The nature of the beast.