Ticking sound from engine area

[Doug-J]

I have noticed lately that my 06, 15K miles has a low ticking sound coming from the rear of the engine compartment. This most noticable when cold start up under moderate acceleration. Sounds like a valve lifter tick or possible exhaust leak. Now yesterday my wife drove about 50 miles and when putting the X back in the garage,with the windows down, the tick was only when the car was in gear. No noise when in neutral or park. The engine is as quiet as a church mouse, barly can hear running. No noise when raising RPM in neutral. Still under warrenty but looking for suggestions prior to taking to the dealer. Any help Bruce? Thanks Doug-J

 

[monepit]

Mine has the same thing. Has had it since I bought it. The funny thing is if I am sitting in the drivers seat with the window up I can barely hear it. If I open the hood and listen I can't. I have tried and tried to locate it and unless i'm in the drivers seat I cant hear it so I decided to just live with it. The good part about the car is that this is the first northstar I've had, and I've had four, That dosn't use oil. 4000 miles since I bought it and it hasn't dropped one bit on the stick.

 

[richardyoo]

My first 2006 XLR-V had this issue... after lots of diag'ing it was determined that one of the exhaust manifold gaskets had a crack in them causing exhaust gas to "puff" out during one of the cylinder ignitions... to me it clearly sounded like valve-lift clicking but after putting the car on a lift and using a hose as a stestithiscope it was clear that the gasket was the culprit of the noise.

 

[Doug-J]

A exhaust leak was my first thought but why is it quiet in park or neutral even when reving the engine? Put it in gear and it can be heard at idle. This says drive train some how is causing the noise. Flex-plate and torque coverter are at the rear attached to the transmission. Have not heard from Bruce for his opinion. Thanks Doug-J

 

[richardyoo]

A exhaust leak was my first thought but why is it quiet in park or neutral even when reving the engine? Put it in gear and it can be heard at idle. This says drive train some how is causing the noise. Flex-plate and torque coverter are at the rear attached to the transmission. Have not heard from Bruce for his opinion. Thanks Doug-J

Thats really funny - I said the EXACT same thing.

my typically also only occurred when the motor was "under load"... so in gear, and typically I had to be accelerating to hear the ticking.

When idle, or stopped while in drive, there was no ticking.

 

[Doug-J]

Richard: What was involved with the replacement of the gasket? According to the shop manual you must remove the engine to remove the exhaust manifold, if I am reading it correctly. Still under warrenty luckily. Doug-J

 

[richardyoo]

Richard: What was involved with the replacement of the gasket? According to the shop manual you must remove the engine to remove the exhaust manifold, if I am reading it correctly. Still under warrenty luckily. Doug-J

No idea - my first XLR-V was in the shop for so many days the first 3 months I owned it that they eventually just replaced it.

 

[monepit]

Get this. I had a new radiator put in today. When I got it back I noticed the ticking sound is completly gone. I have no clue why.

 

[richardyoo]

Get this. I had a new radiator put in today. When I got it back I noticed the ticking sound is completly gone. I have no clue why.

why did you need a new radiator?

 

[monepit]

I saw a small puddle on the floor, not while driving but after it sat and cooled. When they put in the new radiator the old one had a crack on boath left and right plastic tanks. I hear the old style radiator are prone to that.

 

[Cadillac Tech]

A exhaust leak was my first thought but why is it quiet in park or neutral even when reving the engine? Put it in gear and it can be heard at idle. This says drive train some how is causing the noise. Flex-plate and torque coverter are at the rear attached to the transmission. Have not heard from Bruce for his opinion. Thanks Doug-J

Doug, after reading your posts, it does sound like it could be an exhaust leak. It sounds like it is only doing this in gear or under a load,which means it is loading or flexing the exhaust system and making the noise more noticeable. The flexplate is attached to the back of the crankshaft and the torque converter is in the rear in the front of the transmission.

Bruce