has anyone experienced a ticking noise coming from the motor on the 5.7l ls1 motors in the trans ams?? i have a 2002 ta, and noticed this noise, took it down to the dealership, they said that it was coming from the#1 piston. they said it was comon among these type of motors, due to the design. the noise is there at an idle, then at slow acceleration, goes away at about 2000rpm, also goes away once it is warmed up. .has anyone experienced this with this type of motor?

has anyone experienced a ticking noise coming from the motor on the 5.7l ls1 motors in the trans ams?? i have a 2002 ta, and noticed this noise, took it down to the dealership, they said that it was coming from the#1 piston. they said it was comon among these type of motors, due to the design. the noise is there at an idle, then at slow acceleration, goes away at about 2000rpm, also goes away once it is warmed up. .has anyone experienced this with this type of motor?

I was informed that it has to do with fuel pressure and the ticking noise is associated with a system shuttle valve on cold start-up. http://forums.performanceyears.com/g...n_confused.gif
I experience the same thing on my '96 vortec v-8 with 170K miles...which runs perfect.
Suposedly nothing to worry about.

Same thing happens on my brothers '98 T/A and it's running fine. So I guess it's nothing to worry about.

Don't let it worry you. Aluminum block and a aluminum short skirt piston make for some piston slap. (worse when cold) My '99 sounded that way since day one and still runs 1O's on the stock bottom end!

My 98 TA has a slight tick, I never gave it much thought until reading this. It is so smooth, yet powerfull, its a great engine...

Most likely a bent pushrod, VERY common with these when revved a little too high, like a missed shift. Not a big deal to change them out. Don't bother getting stronger ones, it is cheap insurance to let them bend first. Gee, makes me miss my 99 SS.

i just found that odd that gm would design such a great motor, with this one flaw. i heard the vettes have the same problem too. thanks. the guy at the dealership told me the same thing. 8 of 10 of these have the ticking. kind of worried me especially only after 24k miles thanks

C'mon....
GM design and "flaw" go hand in hand. http://forums.performanceyears.com/g...on_biggrin.gif http://forums.performanceyears.com/g...on_biggrin.gif http://forums.performanceyears.com/g...on_biggrin.gif

I saw an episode of Horsepower TV recently, they had one in a Camaro, they showed us taking it apart, piece by piece, don't think they ever came up with an exact conclusion.

see link
http://www.horsepowertv.com/show_details.aspx?iid=4140

If it goes away when warm and you are not using oil, then I wouldn't worry about it too much.

If the car is using a lot of oil then I would be concerned.

If it is a BAD ticking, it could be bent pushrods.

It could also be piston slap due to carbon build up which is a common item on these cars.

That's what it is Piston slap. But it's because of the short skirts on the Piston they put in the motors now. My northstar dose the same thing in my STS.

It's normal, and will not keep you from embarrassing all the Mustang GT drivers out there. Some have argued with dealerships to get work done which at best will minimize the noise. My '01 never did it, so I guess I was the lucky one. Or maybe the sound of the supercharger just covered the piston slap :-)

Mike M

My 99 has piston slap until it warms up. Very common problem for the ls-1

my buddies anniversary ss camaro does the same thing...he switched to better quality oil and that helped but apparantely its a common thing with those motors...

My '01 Formula and '04 GTO both did/do it if I get on it before reaching operating temp.

Short skirt pistons in an aluminum block = a bit more clearance when cold.

Nothing to worry about!

If it were a pushrod, it wouldn't go away when it warms up.

You really ought to take the Chevy out of there and put a RA IV in it! http://forums.performanceyears.com/g.../icon_wink.gif

I work for GM. The noise is more than likely piston slap and it is a common characteristic of the LS1. All the posts that said this is not a durability issue are entirely correct. These engines have extremely tight piston/wall clearance, but due to the short piston skirt length the noise develops. The same noise exists with the V8's used in pickups and SUV's (the 4.8, 5.3 and 6.0 engines). I have never seen an engine failure due to the this condition and the noise typically doesn't continue to get louder. If you are not running synthetic oil then try switching ... it frequently reduces or eliminates the noise. If I remember correctly, GM was putting synthetic in all LS1's just before the "F" bodies went away (sniff, I'll miss 'em).

Ditto....Mine does the same thing. Especially now, thats its colder..