Thread: Ticking in the engine....

There is no way he can listen to something like that and say what he did.


To me if it's a ''Tick'' then I would have to guess it would be a llifter. Those would run you probably 60 buck used.

Confused Update....when we pulled the wire from the spark plug on cylinder 4 the noise went away! Then came back again when reconnected. Any ideas!!

Check the plug. Make sure there are no cracks in the ceramic. Replace it anyway. Let us know.

like a rocker rattle? is the plug too long? is it making contact at all with the piston?

I'm having the same problem on my 2000. What was you solution?

We took it into three different mechanic and just by listening to it they said the engine was going. They all said it could be week or it could be year. Very common problem I guess. So we ended up replacing the engine. It all depends on where the ticking noise is coming from though. We could tell it was definatanly coming from inside the engine.

Friday we just ordered a used transmission. Piece of crap car

I read a post in this forum somewhere that suggested a "sticky" lifter and tried a recommended solution and may have had some luck with that (I'll have to keep you posted). I poured some Lucas Oil Stabilizer in the engine and the noise went away literally in a few seconds. The next day it made the same ticking noise but not as loudly and the noise stopped altogether about 10 minutes later. Drove it to work this morning and it sounded great. It is much warmer outside; in the 50's today as opposed to the 30's last week when the heavy ticking started, but I don't know if that has anything to do with it.
We're at 168,000 on the original motor so I guess we're doing alright. I share your transmission woes though- we rebuilt ours at about 50,000 (bought the car used with 40,000). Other than that it has treated us well.

We read about the sticky lifter too, and did the stabilizer. We also put a heavier weight oil in it, and it helped a bit. I don't recall what weight but it was heavy. Now there is always the question of did we really need to replace to engine...would it still be running today...I guess we'll never know. Same thing with the tranny, but what do you do replace it or wait it out?

Good luck.

Umm replacing the lifters seems a tad less dramatic that putting a whole new long block in.

You'd know if the plug hit the piston.... it'd be smashed and you'd be reading constant misfires on that cylinder.

Kinda ****ed that you let a mechanic replace the entire engine instead of tearing into it a little.

Well, so far so good. The oil stabilizer seems to have definitely done some good; I even changed the oil and added a full quart of the stabilizer to the mix and the ticking has so far pretty much cleared up. It has been warmer here though so I'll see what happens this weekend when its supposed to be pretty cold again (I'm in Massachusetts).
I'm trying to keep the car running as best we can without dumping too much money into it- its paid for and not worth a whole lot to anyone else. It's done us well over the years and I like the car even with the 3.1- it can move out pretty quick and the gas mileage has been a nice perk. And its a nice looking ride too.

I have the same problem, just today replaced lifters and put the updated gaskets on. Tick still there, on throttle up and on the way down it is noisier. At an idle or at a continuous fast idle say around 1500 and up if it is steady quiets down alot! Any suggestions? I guess today wasn"t a total loss new gaskets and thermostat! LOL

I'm still going good with the Lucas Oil Stabilizer over a week later; no re-occurance of the loud, heavy ticking. I do still have (and always did) some ticking that I've always just associated with this type motor and have never been overly concerned about. We're pushing 170,000 miles so I'm not going to start pulling things apart to figure it out now.
I guess if you're getting it particularly at throttle up/down it sounds like a problem. Are you sure it is internal? You'ld be surprised how much a bad belt pulley can sound like engine doom.

With a mechanic stethascope it sounds like it is rockerbox isolated so I will replace rockers 1st and see its only about a 1 and a half hour job and will only need valve cover gaskets and rockers any1 have a set of good 3.1 rockers for sale? LOL!

Mine did the "ticking" for the first time today, the engine shook the entire car for about 3 seconds on start up then the ticking started for about a minute then stopped.
Question.. what are the benefits of the Lucas oil stabilizer... in this situation?
Thanks

I have the ticking noise as well on my 2001 GP SE 3.1 when cold and it usually goes away after the motor warms up. The 3.1 and the 3 other 3.8 motors (98 GP GT, 2001 Buick Lesabre, and 2004 Impala LS) I have had all had piston slap. The current 3.1 motor has 100,000 miles on it and runs real strong, great gas mileage (especially around town versus the 3.8's) and zero oil consumption (synthetic since 50,000 miles). Just keep driving it and I am sure it will be fine.

Just a thought: Does it "use" the oil? Not leaking, and not coming out the tail pipe as blue smoke, but for some reason, the oil level is going down over time? A motor that doesn't have much life left, will go through oil, without you even knowing it. If it's your daily driver, check the oil level every couple of weeks. If it's going down, and there are no leaks, you have a serious problem.

@fortune4you, I think you did the right thing. Sounded like a wrist pin knock, which is loud on a cold start, then lessens after it warms up, but is still there, and can get louder, depending on your work load on the motor. I had a car do the same thing.

A "tick" sound usually doesn't mean major problems. But a "knock" sound, means bad news. They are two different sounds, and very easy to tell apart. The bad knock, is the one where it gets louder when you apply load to the motor. For instance, taking off from a stop light, or going up a hill. I had a car, that had this kind of knock, and it just got louder, and louder, and then it quit. Took it apart, and the camshaft broke into 3 pieces, which broke thru the valley, and landed in the oil pan, anlong with many rods and lifters. It also, spung the 5th piston right off the crank. That is an extreme example, but I learned the difference between a "low" knock and a "high" knock. Tick, tick, tick, like a clock, is high, bang, bang, bang, is a low. (deap and throaty, well, to me anyways )

I've talked with my gear head friends, and read here, that the "tick", "high" knock is a common thing with these 3.1's. Seems GM had these motors alittle tooooo tight, and when they get worn in, they start to loosin up and make sounds. Expectations of overhead cam motors I suppose.

I hoped I helped with all my rambling.