Well it finally got cold in the jackson ms area and my truck sounds like it is dying. when i first started the truck i thought i had blown an exhaust manifold gasket. it sounded bad. once the truck warmed up it wend away. this morning i started the truck and it was knocking again. i let the truck idle for 15 minutes and it was still knocking!! i had to head to work so i left out. about a mile down the road it finally went away. it is not a rod, and it is not the usual piston slap. stuck lifter or valve? what could cause this? will it hurt any thing? how should i go about fixing it? the truck is a 99 with a 5.3l and 160,000 miles. it uses no oil and gemerally runs great.
thanks
chris
help me

 

Sounds like the lifters aren't pumping up when cold. that's not uncommon. what oil are you using?

 

You sure its not piston slap? Our trucks are knowm for piston slap, especially from 99-01.

 

positive about the piston slap, i am used to that. this is a loud tap/knock that sounds like an exhaust leak. piston slap also goes away pretty fast. this truck was still knocking after 15 minutes.

i assume it may be the lifter not pumping up. it seems to only be one of them on the drivers side.

i run 5w30 castrol oil. it is time for an oil change. should i try some sort of cleaner or a qt of tranny fluid before i change the oil?

 

my '04 actually has very noisy lifters, very much at cold startup, it settles a little, but never goes away. i was told this is because of the stock 1.7 rockers, high ratio are noisy. is this true? truck has 4000 miles on it, do they maybe need to be adjusted?

 

I would also like to know. My truck does the same thing, I thought mine might be an exhaust leak because I have had a big problem with my headers. Sounds louder from up under so thats where I though it may have been a leak. Mine is also on the drivers side. What has to be done to get this fixed???

 

Another thing that is happening on the truck motors as well as the aluminum blocked motors; Oil-pump pick up tube O-ring are torn. this causes an aeration of engine oil & that causes lifter noise. There is a TSB, dont have the # handy though.

 

My trucks been ticking, tapping, knockin, and slappin since day 1 (original owner, picked er up April 99). Now that I have the Comp Cam and 915 Springs, add sewing machine sound to the list...but it always runs great. I'd prefer to only hear the tone of my exhaust, but as long as it keeps pullin I'll keep living with it. If I ever start this thing up and don't hear anything, then I'll be worried.

 

My truck had always made a very very faint lifter noise but after my issue the other day resulting in the cam job it is louder. After it warms up or I put it drive and go for a min or so it goes away! I just tell myself that it is a small fee to pay for performance! Put true duals on or cut your cats off and you wont hear it as much! Good Luck!

 

Mine seems to have developed the same symptoms. Im not sure if it has to do with the oil pump O ring, but that along with the oil pump will be changed out in the next month or two. "No sweety, Im not doing any more stuff to the truck, we are just doing some maintanance. The oil pump and cam are old and need to be replaced."