alright, so for the longest time i have been researching the whole "ticking" noise coming from my 6.0 motor not only upon start-up...but after the motor warms up as well. i have looked on alldata.com/talked to chevy mechanics/other mechanics i know and no one can seem to tell me why it sounds like my lifters or something in the valves are going nuts. at first i wasnt that worried about it but it seems like it keeps getting louder and louder as the weeks go on...ive switched to synthetic oil, replaced plugs/wires/all filters/ pretymuch every tune up thing i could think of. does anyone have some inside information on the mystery? thanks for your help (also im new to the forums, and a little bit ofan amateur when it comes to internals/engines/etc)

 

I'm not sure if the 6.0 had an aluminum block that year, but, I'm sure they had aluminum heads. The carry internal engine noise further that FE heads. It's not an exhaust leak? How many miles do you have?

 

It is carbon built up on top of the pistons...sounds lifterish...was common on older 99-2002 trucks....both 5.3's and 6.0's

 

Argon: Anything that can help, prevent or remove this carbon buildup? Mine does it occasionally on cold morings but I don't want it to get worse if I can prevent it. Mechanics have told me to use good gas and Sea Foam and run it out on the highway every once and a while. But thats all.

 

here is what we did about 5 years ago,..

pull the plugs-fill the cyulinders with gm top engine cleaner-let er sit 24 hrs-rotate the engine by hand to force the stuff out-install new plugs/oil


it was good for a few miles but would return.




the net was FULL of websites about "GM knockers" and how junky these were...some people just want to bitch I guess....it weas just carbon...I bet NONE of those old bitchers had their engine fail

 

Well as long as it doesn't blow up or fail I don't care but if I gets like "loud-loud" I might try that.

 

Found this quote on ls2gto.com :

"It's not just the aluminum block LSx series motors. The LS1 derivative truck engines, which have an iron block tick also from upper valvetrain noise. It's just the nature of the beast. My 2000 Silverado 5.3L was worse than either of my GTOs. It had a very pronounced ticking when warm, and slight piston slap occasionally on cold starts. It was nothing detrimental to the engine though. It ran like a bat out of hell, and I beat on it constantly. I never had a problem with it in 65,000 miles, which is when I traded it in. It is truly a great engine, as are all of the LSx series."

 

I need a bumper sticker that says "Its supposed to tick!", lol. When I first got it I was January. I just pulled out of work and it was still ticking (mostly does it on cold days until I run it a little, but it has gotten better since then) anywho I pulled up next to this cute girl and her freind at the light. I heard her freind say (My window was open to smoke a cigarette and hers was cracked open) what the hell is that noise? Oh its that truck next to us. I was thinking, "Its not a POS i swear!"

 

I ran water through my vaccum lines. Worked for a short time. 93 octane pretty much eliminated the sound but not the carbon. The carbon build up causes a pre-ignition ping. The fuel exploding before the spark plug fires due to higer compression. The higher octane takes more compression to ignite it, and so you have no ping.

I was told that sucking water through the system, ( vaccum line ) that the steam would clean the carbon. Either I did it wrong, or it doesn't work. But high octane fuel will stop the noise, I can attest to that with my old 5.7 98 K2500. If the high octane doesn't eliminate the ping, you have something else going on.

 

I have a 01 HD with the 6.0L that I bought new. It knocks sometimes when you first start it but the it goes away. The truck now has 106,000 miles on it & I have never had any major mechanical or internal problems with the engine.