I have a strange tapping sound that seems to be comming from the passenger side head- Im wondering if I have a rocker stud that needs to be cranked down a bit more?

Strange it only happens when the car is totally warmed up and seems to stop as I bring the RPMs up. Even stranger- If I put the car in neutral and just tap the gas hard enough to rev the engine just a bit it stops.

I just changed oil to 5-40 rotella synthetic but that didnt seem to help the problem at all.

BTW what the hell socket fits those valve cover bolts?????

 

What year, how many miles on it?
8mm, 12 point, 1/4" drive socket.
To correct that noise, you will need to pull the manifolds, remove and inspect the rocker shaft, arms, push rods, lifters for pressure and cam lope for wear.

 

Make sure its not a leaking or cracked exhaust manifold before you go through all that work.

 

2X ON ALL THE ABOVE.... and I had a similar issue that had re-occurred AFTER I had rebuilt the worn rockershafts.....the rockerarms are alluminum and have a steel insert in both ends...one of the inserts , where the pushrod seats was loose and causing the "tick"....only after the engine had warmed up. To find this I had to remove the valve covers and reassemble things enough to run the engine till it warmed up to pinpoint the noisemaker.

 

Thanks for this info. I also have a tick that only comes up after being warmed up and under load. I will hopefully get to tracking it down sooner or later.

 

Thanks all!

Mike its a 98 with 83k on it. The heads were done about 1k ago and it as done this since the day I bought it regardless of what oil or oil treatment I put in.