Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

Ok ,,then I will tell it with as few words I can

I had a ticking noise and installed new gaskets on the exhaust manifolds as I have headers and know that some times they do not fit real good.. ,, and by tightening the bolts it seemed to stop the tapping noise,, but it kept coming back..
After having a couple home machanics try and fix it with no success ,,by installing new gaskets ,I took it to a garage and the machanic told me he believed the tapping was coming from inside the valve cover..
So I told him to pull them both and check see what he can find ,, he did and found that I do have roller rockers and after he set the lash on them both sides my ticking has gone away ..
I was almost ready to sell the the truck ,, now I think this will be the last truck for me to own.. I was worried as I have always owned a truck .
Ever have a problem like that and almost ready to sell to get rid of it?

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

Yes I have! I have a '94 chevy truck we call the dump truck because about the only time we ever drive it is to the dump, or to haul a load like gravel or mulch. It has 230k miles and has been very reliable. Well, one day it wouldn't start. Battery was dead flat 0 Volts. My Charger wouldn't touch it so I took it to AutoZ. And they charged it up. 3 days later dead. They replaced it. 3 days later dead. I finally got off my but and traced a draw to the courtesy circuit. Turns out the light in the glove box was staying on because the hinge is broke, so I removed it. Good for 4 weeks then yesterday it was dead again! Had them charge battery AGAIN and then found I had somehow pinched the lighter wire in the hinge of the ashtray and when it was open it had a direct short.

I'm an electrician but I hate automotive electricals! I even looked at used trucks yesterday, it gave me incentive to fix the one I have!

Good luck, and good to see you posting again, Rg

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

Glad it was a simple fix. :metal:

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

I had an Isuzu Rodeo that was nothing but problems. I got everything working right and decided to sell it before I had to fix something else. My wife went to my daughter and told her I was selling the car and she could get it for cheap... Over the next two years I ended up putting another $1000 or so and dozens of hours of work into it.

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

I am happy with the trucks I own and hope I never have to buy another one. I know, that's asking a lot of them. :lol:

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

Now that sounds like my luck right there.

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

Nope, never.
Lots of hard to figure out problems. But these are mechanical objects, the answer is always there waiting to be found.

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

You got it right Tom ,, as my frustration did not over rule my desires to keep looking to find out what the ticking was.. Sure brought a smile to me when the problem was solved ,

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

Best one I recall is my 1997 4Runner. It developed a tick that I thought was a valvetrain issue. To the point of taking it to the dealership and them telling me it did sound like valve train noise and what it would cost for them to repair. I decided to troubleshoot some more. Don't remember what they stated, but it was $$$.

I was out of town and my father in law happened to visit and my wife told him about it. He listened and told her it wasn't valve train, it was an electrical arc tick. He had been an electronics guy since the late 1960's in the Air Force. I started pulling spark plug boots and, sure enough, one of the screw on connections on one of the spark plugs had somehow came loose and was allowing the boot to jump a bit and arc. Total cost to repair was $0.0. Just a bit of time.

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

Yeah, happening to me now. Have a 2003 4 wheeler that was running great after I replaced most of the fuel and ignition components... then it wasn't and won't even start now. Also a 2007 side-by-side that was running ok when I got it a year or so ago, but every attempt to get it running "right" tends to be a step backward.

Ready to sell them both for scrap at this point!

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

Me;; First thing I would do "IF" these both have been using Ethonol gas and then maybe a over haul or buy new carburetors ,, if you think they are worth it



Me;;;This story and others gives us hope ,, one just has to find the right person to find what we cannot.

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

Some times we get too focused in on one area of suspicion when the problem is actually non related.
We had a 77 Impala that developed a hard tick. I was sure it was lifters. Had to be one of the rocker nuts worked off or lift failed right? No, before I tore into it I used a piece of hose to locate the sound. It turned out to be the fuel pump. I guess the spring in it got weak. It was not an AC pump and not very old. A new AC pump took care of it.
We had a 75 Elcamino wreck we rebuilt. Low mileage car but had an engine tick. It turned out to be the dist cap was not sitting on straight and the rotor was clipping the terminals on one side of the cap. The dist cap got dislodged in the accident.
On one of my LS engine'd trucks, it developed a noticeable tick. That one turned out to be a torque converter bolt had backed out and the head was touching the engine block. Only one loose and it was very noticeable.

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

I bought a nice '71 shortbed that I'd say was worth $6-7k at the time, which was top dollar. Very nice including a rebuilt 402. It developed a rumble and ran rough so the owner was so disgusted he was selling it for $1500. I had a 454 to put in it and dress up as a 402, so I gladly bought it, $1200. I started unbolting the motor with the starter and bellhousing cover. I started on the torque converter bolts and found one missing and the rest were loose. I took care of that, put the starter back in, and fired it up. Ran like a clock, smooth and peppy!

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

My first car was a 66 Impala and it wouldn't turn over and I knew the battery was good. I laid in the mud putting a new starter in it. Still nothing. My dad asked if I'd cleaned the the battery terminals, of course I hadn't. I cleaned them and it fired right up. From that point forward, that it the first thing I do when electrical troubleshooting.

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

I told the story some years ago how I had my ol 39 pushed for at least miles by my brotherin law trying to get it started ,come to find out after going back home looking everywhere for the rotor ..I had it in my pocket..

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

I don't recall what I was working on or what particular part it was but it was small. I dropped it and proceeded to start the search process. Not on the workbench, not on the immediate floor area, nowhere to be found. An hour later, after moving workbenches, sweeping, etc. I was standing there thinking and put my hands in the pockets of my coveralls. Wouldn't you know it, the part had fallen into my pocket and I had been carrying it around all that time.

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

My daily driver/dog car is a ScionXB 2010 with 106000. It has been great except for the white paint falling off. However, the heater fan was getting noisy. On 1 it was tolerable but 5 got so bad you had to turn it back to 1. I figured the drum type fan motor was failing. A YouTube video showed that removing the fan was easy. Three screws and it dropped down. A dead rat and acorns fell on the floorpan. Man, that rats legs were well built after being in that spinning drum.......
Within weeks, the wipers stopped working. Gained access by removing a snap on plastic panel under the hood. Found a big clump of house insulation wrapped around the wiper motor shaft which has pushed off the two drive arms to the blades ( nylon snap on fitting). Cleaned out and snapped arms back on. Then removed another dead rat and acorns......
Cost of repairs zero.
I can live with that.

Re: Want to hear a story about my 350 v8 in my truck?
 

I don't remember which truck I was working on or the repair but putting it back together I dropped a fastener of some sort. It was made for a certain purpose. Anyway it dropped inside the engine bay and bounced around. It didn't make it to the ground though. After an extensive search I found it inside the coil spring on the lower control arm.