383 engine noise

[jasonjb75]

I have the original 383 in my '69 Charger.  Only recently I have starting having this engine tick.  It only makes this noise while I'm driving and it is under a load.  It won't do it at idle, if the car is in neutral and I give it gas or if I'm going down a hill.  I have checked and rechecked the timing.  Everything there is ok.  I have a hydraulic cam, but I'm pretty sure it isn't a lifter.  I always use premium fuel (93 octane).  I did add an octane booster/lead additive one time, and I don't think it made the noise then.  I may try this again to be sure.  As far as I know the heads don't have the hardened seats and I probably should have used a lead additive all along.  I had the original carb on the engine.  It was suggested to me that it may be the carb.  I have changed to the Edelbrock 750, and this didn't help.  The last thing I thought it might be is a cracked exhaust manifold.  I have new ones to put one, but I'm going to wait to get the new heads to do that.  I was just wondering if anyone on here had any other ideas and areas I should check.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks

[Sublime/Sixpack]

Sounds as though it could be an exhaust leak.

[elacruze]

Sounds as though it could be an exhaust leak.

[jasonjb75]

That will be my next plan of attack   I have already started soaking the bolts with PB Blaster.

Thanks for helping me out.

[CharcoalCharger]

I was thinking of this the other day  .  Those other bolts didn't come loose again, did they  ?  I don't think that is it, but it could be something we overlooked.  Let me know when you want to swap those manifolds out  . 

[Corellian Corvette]

Do you have exhaust gaskets?

If so, take a torque wrench and tighten up all the bolts. Don't do it by hand - there's a spec for a reason 

I have that problem on my Buick every now and again. The lock washers are old so the bolts back out. Get a tick, torque 'em back down, problem solved. Maybe one day I'll pull 'em out and replace the washers... 

[68 RT]

Could also be the pipe to manifold gasket.

[jasonjb75]

Well JD, I had the car out today and topped off the tank with fresh fuel and the Klotz additive.  No different   I did check the manifold gaskets, all tight like they should be.

Give me a call sometime and we can make a plan...

[FLG]

Where in PA are ya?

If you want another set of ears i might be of some assistance, depends on how far or close you are form NY. 

Wouldnt mind taking a nice 1~2 hour drive in the Charger...

[jasonjb75]

I'm about a half hour north of Allentown!

I checked all the exhaust and it all looked good but a friend of mine that I bought the car off of mentioned to me about a lifter going.  If I take the valve covers off and check that the rockers are torqued would it be obvious that a lifter was bad?  I thought the hydraulic lifters worked off of oil pressure so how would I be able to check them?

[ACUDANUT]

 If it's the Orginal engine....Time for a overhaul.

[elacruze]

I'm about a half hour north of Allentown!

I checked all the exhaust and it all looked good but a friend of mine that I bought the car off of mentioned to me about a lifter going.  If I take the valve covers off and check that the rockers are torqued would it be obvious that a lifter was bad?  I thought the hydraulic lifters worked off of oil pressure so how would I be able to check them?

Very unlikely to be a lifter. Lifters use oil pressure. Oil pressure is lowest at idle, so if that was your problem you'd hear the tick at idle. The oil pressure and spring pressure on the lifter do not change with load, but your noise does-so that again points away from lifters.
Try looking around the exhaust joints when the car is hot, after dark. You may be able to see some light or sparks from leaks which are in difficult to see places during the daytime. Have somebody mash the pedal while you look as closely as you can, I'll wager you find it. Don't forget the intake manifold heat crossover if you still have one.

[71383bee]

Use a long screw driver or something as a stethoscope.  I have a long 18" screwdriver i use and just lightly set it on the vc rail and put the handle to your ear.  By probing around you can sometime pinpoint where a knock or bad bearing is coming from.  I would diagnose which side and then pull the vc.  With the vc off just try and gently push on the pushrod side of the rockers...there should be no play.  if there is then the lifter is probably bad.  time to pull the intake and replace the lifters or worse if there's evidence the cam is wiped.  I doubt that though as a wiped cam would start to have a lot more issues than what you're describing. 

For a while there was a problem with a lot of lifters coming from China.  I had to replace a set of mine on the dyno as it was being broke in a few years ago.   
   

[FLG]

I'm about a half hour north of Allentown!

I checked all the exhaust and it all looked good but a friend of mine that I bought the car off of mentioned to me about a lifter going.  If I take the valve covers off and check that the rockers are torqued would it be obvious that a lifter was bad?  I thought the hydraulic lifters worked off of oil pressure so how would I be able to check them?

When the weather cheers up (if you have not solved the issue) i wouldnt mind taking a trip and helping ya out 

[jasonjb75]

Started taking the engine out after I found that I didn't have any compression in cylinders #4 and #6.

Can't quite figure out how a piece of the piston got on top of the head

[71383bee]

Yikes!

We'll now you got a good excuse to pull her and stroke her or something!

[elacruze]

Wow!

Hope your block is ok.

[jasonjb75]

The block and everything looks fine believe it or not.  Here are the results of my compression check I did before I tore it down.

cylinder #1  137
cylinder #2  165
cylinder #3  160
cylinder #4  0
cylinder #5  150
cylinder #6  0
cylinder #7  165
cylinder #8  160

At first thought I think many will say that this may be a result of a faulty heat riser.  Oh I did forget to mention that the head gasket was shot between cylinders 4 and 6.

I'd like to replace the piston in cylinder 6.  What are your thoughts on that?  Do you think I should replace the piston in 4 too because of the compression or is that just a result of the head gasket?

If you look at the pictures you can also see that the piston is cracked.  What the hell would cause that, heat possibly from the bad heat riser?  The funny thing about the heat riser is that it appeared to work perfectly fine when I looked at the exhaust manifold.

Oh well I'm looking forward to reading some of your thoughts.  Thanks a lot for your help.

[71383bee]

Re those hyperutechtic pistons?

[Cooter]

Looks like some VERY bad Pinging going on there...The only time I've seen that was when the Unleaded fuel came on board and the Small Block Chevy 305...Detination caused alot of piston skirts to be relocated to the oil pan...However, I've never seen one in the top end like that....Musta been spinnin' the hell outta that 383..LOL...I spect I'd tear it all the way down and see what other surprises are in there...

[jasonjb75]

I was surprised to see a lot of this!  Just because this is the first time I saw the inside of the engine.

I have no idea what pistons they are, how would I tell?