2007 VE SSV L98 lifter tick

[Banjo79]

As you've said your minimizing use, but if you do have to drive it, I'd recommend getting clips of the cold start idle, warm idle after at least 10 mins of driving and probably cold and warm driving in cab if you can hear it from in there. If you have access to a video/slr camera with mic, do it with that and set gain/attenuation/volume manually and record from the same distance, it may be overkill for most, but it keeps it apple to apples. Your phone may even have pro video settings.
In all honesty the clip provided doesn't sound much different to mine without the Nulon "special sauce" added and it's sounded like that for the last 150k km's with little worsening. Been worrying for nothing for years! If you want to be horrified by engine sounds to make yourself feel a bit better, look up Ron's piston slap thread on here. 8 f**king cylinders of pure stress for the poor guy. Don't sweat it just yet.

 

[Alexmarshall99]

As you've said your minimizing use, but if you do have to drive it, I'd recommend getting clips of the cold start idle, warm idle after at least 10 mins of driving and probably cold and warm driving in cab if you can hear it from in there. If you have access to a video/slr camera with mic, do it with that and set gain/attenuation/volume manually and record from the same distance, it may be overkill for most, but it keeps it apple to apples. Your phone may even have pro video settings.
In all honesty the clip provided doesn't sound much different to mine without the Nulon "special sauce" added and it's sounded like that for the last 150k km's with little worsening. Been worrying for nothing for years! If you want to be horrified by engine sounds to make yourself feel a bit better, look up Ron's piston slap thread on here. 8 f**king cylinders of pure stress for the poor guy. Don't sweat it just yet.

Great idea I'll definitely do that!
I'll take the videos and label them as such on my yt so that everyone has an idea of what the sound is like at different times. I'll just have to use my phone unfortunately.
I'm not super stressed just yet.
Thanks for the advice, learning alot about the car as I try to sort this issue out haha.

 

[Alexmarshall99]

Have uploaded 6 more videos on my YT with better examples of the noise at different stages. Hopefully the audio is much clearer. Seems that the tick comes on once the car is warm.

https://youtube.com/shorts/yLAHdSjbHY8?feature=share

 

[Banjo79]

Those vids make it a lot easier to hear and possibly a bit more worrying. It may be beyond the "special sauce" treatment, but I'll leave it to others to speculate on what it probably is.

 

[Alexmarshall99]

Those vids make it a lot easier to hear and possibly a bit more worrying. It may be beyond the "special sauce" treatment, but I'll leave it to others to speculate on what it probably is.

Damn dude now I'm stressing haha.
I feel like it's a lifter getting stuck once the engine warms up. If it was a rod knock I imagine it would be present warm or cold.

 

[Alexmarshall99]

Hi all,
Would love some opinions on the suspected lifter tick my 07 SSV is making.

Warm idle (audible tick)

Cold start (no tick)

Thanks in advance.

 

[rjp]

I've had mine since 2009 (with 10k on it) and it made odd piston slapping noises at the time. I went from a VS Series 3 with the Holden 5 litre in it to the L98 and the new motor made noises that the old one never did (ie that funny ticking noise that you have and the chirping noise). I had it back to the dealership a number of times and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. There's a number of old threads on here about the piston slapping issue.

As I mentioned before, I ended up getting 240k out of it before the lifters really went. By that stage, it sounded like a diesel..

Oil and filters where changed every 7,500 klms.

 

[Alexmarshall99]

I've had mine since 2009 (with 10k on it) and it made odd piston slapping noises at the time. I went from a VS Series 3 with the Holden 5 litre in it to the L98 and the new motor made noises that the old one never did (ie that funny ticking noise that you have and the chirping noise). I had it back to the dealership a number of times and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. There's a number of old threads on here about the piston slapping issue.

As I mentioned before, I ended up getting 240k out of it before the lifters really went. By that stage, it sounded like a diesel..

Oil and filters where changed every 7,500 klms.

Thanks for all of that information brother! In your opinion was the noise your car made similar to the noise mine is making in the videos?
Regards

 

[Immortality]

Nulon Lifter Free works just like an engine oil flush but it doesn't thin out the oil like the engine oil flush does. Simply it just dissolves carbon and leaves it suspended in the oil.

If you add Lifter Free the engine oil generally goes black fairly quick. If the problem is just carbon accumulation in the lifters than it will reduce or eliminate the noise. If there is no change than chances are the issue mechanical/wear and tear.

 

[Alexmarshall99]

Nulon Lifter Free works just like an engine oil flush but it doesn't thin out the oil like the engine oil flush does. Simply it just dissolves carbon and leaves it suspended in the oil.

If you add Lifter Free the engine oil generally goes black fairly quick. If the problem is just carbon accumulation in the lifters than it will reduce or eliminate the noise. If there is no change than chances are the issue mechanical/wear and tear.

Great advice, was considering changing the oil and piercing the old oil filter to inspect for metal shavings but decided against it as they will do all of that when upgrading the cam and installing the new lifters.
Unfortunately I'm just going to have to be patient and wait til the 21st to find out the issue.
Will post all updates on this thread with links to YT videos to show before and after.