Ok here is the deal. I had noise problems before and fixed them (they were all exhaust related) and my car has been running really well for the last few months. Had an idle prob and fixed that but other than that error free. Well today I was sitting at one of the local pizza joints in the parking lot and I heard a clicking coming from my engine. Usually happened in bursts of 3 or 4 with a slight pause in between. I limp my car home and pop my hood to attempt to find where the noise is coming from. Out of instinct, checked my oil and was a quart low, so I added some and the problem still there. The noise was coming from around the exhaust side of cylinder one and/or the cam gears up in the head. First thought...rocker slipped or is loose because in addition to the clicking, there is a swooshing noise that is pulsed. Well I call up a buddy to double-check my thoughts and he agreed so I took my car around back and took off the valve cover. Everything is tight and checked out fine, rotated the cams a bit and everything looked ok so I'm stumped.

Recap: a bursted clicking noise in the head around cylinder one/cam gears, pulsing swooshing noise in the same area and everything passed the visual test.

Please don't tell me I bent a valve...that is the only other logical thing I can think of besides a worn out part in the timing assembly. Maybe it's timing related since my gears make a whining noise when driving and just driving like that wore something out. I don't know, any ideas?

is there any loss of power or does it feel like there's only 3 cylinders running? any CEL's? or is it just the noise?

No loss of power which is a little odd. I got CELs, but they are for EGR blocked off, no rear o2 and a hit-n-miss EVAP code. Other than that it's just the noise. I'm wondering if it may be a worn timing component. Plenty of oil in the head so it's not starvation up there IMO.

EDIT: I don't think I mentioned this but the sound seems to go away when I rev it and just is audible at idle.

Might just have a lifter that's lost it's prime and is ticking a touch

Originally posted by KnightHawk434th
No loss of power which is a little odd. I got CELs, but they are for EGR blocked off, no rear o2 and a hit-n-miss EVAP code. Other than that it's just the noise. I'm wondering if it may be a worn timing component. Plenty of oil in the head so it's not starvation up there IMO. EDIT: I don't think I mentioned this but the sound seems to go away when I rev it and just is audible at idle.

use a mechanic's stethoscope and determine exactly where the noise is coming from. just because it sounds like it's in the head or on one side of the block doesn't mean it is.

OK, don't laugh, but -

-same thing happened to me and I thought my motor was toast.

Turns out it was the shoddy plastic cover around the cam gears. The timing belt was rubbing against the inner part of the cover, nearest the head.

I removed the cover completely, problem solved.

Now, especially since you have aftermarket cam gears, you may have left that cover off, but I thought I would try and help, this problem gave me 2 hours of headaches before it turned out to be something stupid.

Originally posted by falling-debris
OK, don't laugh, but - -same thing happened to me and I thought my motor was toast. Turns out it was the shoddy plastic cover around the cam gears. The timing belt was rubbing against the inner part of the cover, nearest the head. I removed the cover completely, problem solved. Now, especially since you have aftermarket cam gears, you may have left that cover off, but I thought I would try and help, this problem gave me 2 hours of headaches before it turned out to be something stupid.

That's what I was gonna suggest... maybe if you haven't done your timing belt/pulleys in a while they may be the issue (bad idler/tensioner pulley's, belt walking a bit side to side and rubbing your cover)

Originally posted by falling-debris
I removed the cover completely, problem solved.

NOT the smartest thing you can do. you want at the very least a partial cover if not the full thing. I lost an alternator belt and it shot into the timing belt causing my intake cam to jump timing. every intake valve was bent at ~6000 rpms

I'm running just the bottom half of the cover so i can't get shit in the bottom end and my top is open. I'll have to wait until next weekend to run a stethascope test since i don't have enough for a valve cover gasket at this time, unless I can manage to gather a few bucks to pick one up. Money is tight and I won't get paid until friday. Right now i'm trying to bounce off ideas on what might be the problem given my little bit of diagnosis i did yesterday. So far my list is:

-Idler bearing gone south
-Tensioner bearing gone south (running a mechanical)
-Lost a lifter or more
-Problem elsewhere in the engine

What about cam bearing caps? Maybe if one came loose then that might provide my sound...just a thought.

Well I think I may have found my problem. It was in the timing assembly as I suspected. Towed it to a local shop with our truck and started it up and had one of the mechanics there check it out. He had me rev it to around 2000 every so often so the sound would amplify and started probing everywhere with a stethoscope. He said when he was ON the water pump it was the loudest and the further out from that the sound diminished so it looks like my water pump may be failing. My question is, is it just possible I got a bad one or is something else causing premature failure (pump only has around 5000 miles on it)? Well nevertheless I'll be replacing that soon and hoping to get a hold of a hydraulic tensioner and pulley assembly and converting back from my mechanical. The mechanical one is just too much of a PITA to get the right tension, much more difficult that pulling a pin and viola. So looks like my water pump is going out, so I'm gonna start there with my repairs. Need to re-time my engine anyhow so this would be a good time to do it.