1999 Suburban Ticks cold

burgerdude

Hello, I bought this Suburban several years ago Some specs on the vehicle it is a suburban k1500 it now has 175k miles engine replaced at 143k Shortly after the purchase of this vehicle I had to overcome some serious problems with the intake manifold gaskets leaking antifreeze, this eventually ended in a major bearing failure and engine replacement. I went out and bought a crate long block and after minor bugs I found this motor had a valve tick on its right bank. I tried resolving this by removing the valve covers and tightening on the rocker arm making the noise. My mechanic thought it was a collapsed lifter so we went ahead and replaced all of the lifters. Since then I can say the tick is still there, I know all the push rods were intermingled, all I can think of now is that the cam lobe on the cam must be cut too low. I really could use some suggestions here. I tried to call the motor builders for the long block but of course they fumbled the warranty as expected and by now it is null and void. I don't like the sound of the engine as it sounds like a sewing machine on start up. My mechanic tells me there is some bulletin that states you should add some bottle of some additive to reduce this noise. My theory is that nothing you buy in a bottle to fix a problem ever works. Please let me know what you think. Thank you in advance.

donaldl396

Sounds like my 99. If the noise goes away within 30 seconds its probably piston slap. Piston slap was a big problem on GM engines. The 5.7 was one of the worst offenders. My 99 suburban started doing it at around 75,000 miles. When I changed my intake gaskets I also replaced the lifters just in case. Do an internet search on " GM Piston Slap" and you will find lots info. Whats sad is GM says this is normal! Hope that helps a little DonaldL

successisforme

hi......uuumm well try this.....go to a parts store and buy a auto stefascope....put it in your ears and put the point/tip all over that side that you think is the ticking......then.........take the valve cover off and pinpoint the rocker thats making the noise......you may find that its the rocker.......very rare but those rockers CAN try to back out and then stop at a certain point that allows it to not have all the pressure that its sopposed to have.......atleast you will know where the problem is..