2004 5.3 lifter tick what's the fix?

[Doubeleive]

I know your tick is different from mine, but I've noticed a few things which are giving me a few new places to look and consider.

Upon start up on a cold morning, it is quiet for about 5 or 10 seconds, then begins to tick until the coolant temperature reaches 20 °C (about 70°F). Then it becomes quieter until it's virtually unnoticable. I believe that I would hear piston slap immediately upon startup. Lifters would also begin noisy. I have used a stethoscope and found that the heads are quiet when compared to the tick.

When I touched the stethoscope to the exhaust Y-pipe, I could hear the tick. My exhaust manifold bolts are torqued correctly and I've checked the flange connecting the exhaust manifold to the Y-pipe. My thoughts are a warped exhaust manifold, poorly mated exhaust flange, or something else. The stethoscope has been useful so far, I believe.

Mine is very temperature dependent however.

ya I had to replace the flange on my 00 twice due to warping and the only place to get one is to cut one off from a junker and have it welded on, gm only sells the whole pipe

 

[mdmcinti]

I have experienced all the ticks in these motors from piston slap, exhaust manifold leaks, and lifted tick. I think they all sound differently and are pretty easily distinguished. The exhaust leak I had on my 06 Silverado was noticeable on a cold start, but it would go away once warm. You could hear clicking from it on a slight press off the gas, but it would go away after like 1500 rpms. The lifter tick is way louder and makes the truck sound like an old school tractor.

 

[OR VietVet]

When trying to diagnose noises a mechanically inclined person will develop the "trained ear". I would bet 90% of us can hear a belt squeal or a bad u-joint from a block away. When I ran shops I used to get customers in that had an obvious noise that I knew what it was and I shared that with them on the spot, no charge. They would tell me about another shop they just came from that wanted a minimum of 1 hour labor for just figuring out what the noise was. I would tell them what that noise is and then explain what different systems/components could be causing it and that my diagnostic fee was for pinning down what was actually CAUSING it. Crap, like what those other shops were pulling, used to get me worked up pretty good.

 

[Matthew Jeschke]

When trying to diagnose noises a mechanically inclined person will develop the "trained ear". I would bet 90% of us can hear a belt squeal or a bad u-joint from a block away. When I ran shops I used to get customers in that had an obvious noise that I knew what it was and I shared that with them on the spot, no charge. They would tell me about another shop they just came from that wanted a minimum of 1 hour labor for just figuring out what the noise was. I would tell them what that noise is and then explain what different systems/components could be causing it and that my diagnostic fee was for pinning down what was actually CAUSING it. Crap, like what those other shops were pulling, used to get me worked up pretty good.

so funny, I am a grease monkey / backyard sunday mechanic lol

That said, I probably bat 90% at spotting good mechanics. Ones like you

Bit of a dieing breed. Fewer and harder to find. I do all my own work. Only used a mechanic 2 times in my life lol That said, I help my friends find mechanics.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

 

[OR VietVet]

so funny, I am a grease monkey / backyard sunday mechanic lol

That said, I probably bat 90% at spotting good mechanics. Ones like you

Bit of a dieing breed. Fewer and harder to find. I do all my own work. Only used a mechanic 2 times in my life lol That said, I help my friends find mechanics.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

Thank you. Don't get me wrong about techs. They have every right to make a great living and a great wage but they never ever have a right to be ridiculous about certain things like the scenario I laid out. Lots of times it is the place they work that dictates what they can and cannot do. When I ran shops, if the owner would not let me run it the way I wanted then I left. I always made sure in the job interview that I told the owner how I would run the business and how I would manage the techs. I also told them how I would take care of the customers and build the business. I never once left a shop without increasing their business and customer base. Most of it had to do with 2 things. Honesty to a customer and training them. Plus, teaching the techs to pay very close attention to detail and the thought process. I hated comebacks. Customers don't always make the best decisions and I always documented that. I always preferred to SHOW the customer the problem when I could. Teach them why it is bad and what that problem is causing. It is way easier now with the cell phones to do that. If you involve the customer in the repair process on their vehicle, you have a customer for life.

True story, I was a photo journalist before I went in the service, I was a photographer in the Navy and I was a photo journalist after I got out and also did freelance work. My mom got ripped off by a tech one day. Pissed me off. I dove in and trained myself and went to work as a shop helper/mechanic and worked my way up.

 

[Larryjb]

Some shops are hit and miss.

10 years ago I got my first front drive, a 1997 Buick LeSabre. Shop A told me I needed a new ball joint when I was getting new tires, so I let them do it for me. I could see the joint was sloppy, so I had no trouble letting do the work at the same time.

When I picked up the car, it appeared to have what I thought was torque steer. Because this was my first front drive, and I had experienced torque steer on a Honda Prelude once, I was thinking that was normal. For a bit. By day 2, I realized that couldn't be normal for torque steer. GM wouldn't make something with torque steer that bad, so I went back to the shop. The mechanic looked at it and said I needed new struts all around, so I made the appointment for it. On my way home, I realized that bad struts couldn't make torque steer like that, unless a strut mount was actually loose or something. I went to shop B and they showed me that the ball joint was missing the cotter pin, and had 2-3 thread left before the whole thing fell out. They tightened it up for me and installed a cotter pin, and I had to pay them a small sum for their time and "shop supplies" (a big scam among all the shops around here).

Fine, I figured this shop was good and honest. When it came time for an alignment, I went to shop B who said they could do alignments. They told me this vehicle was just a 2 wheel alignment, but I knew it was a 4 wheel alignment as it had an independent suspension, and it did have toe and camber adjustments on the rear suspension. They still insisted it was a 2 wheel alignment. I guess they didn't know much about alignments, but were trying to get my business. So shop B, which appeared honest at first, and they had done good work for basic mechanics, was not so honest in the end.

I have found a good shop since that works with the DIY. They are busy enough that if you can do something yourself properly, they respect that. They tell me that they have some people that bring in vintage cars all the way from California for work. I figure it must have been one or two customers worth from California, but they are busy and respect the work I've done. They even recommend work I can do on my own.