Soooo as some may know from my Clogged Cat thread i got that ZZP DP installed and it was leaking at the gasket. i thought the leak was causing the ticking but today i got the leak taken care of and the ticking is still there

it only ticks when im driving and the car is "under load" lol
if i have it in park and rev it, theres no ticking at all. it started the ticking like 2 weeks before i changed out the cat but i just thought it was from the cat being clogged and getting worse after time. Could the pressure from the clogged cat and me driving it like that for a while may have damaged something? and if it were to be a lifter wouldn't it still tick while in idle? or when i reved it in park? Let me know what yall think

 

Heres a guess...

Since its an automatic....

Did you ever consider the flex plate?....
Maybe it has a crack in it...at idle or "ZERO" pressure or even reving it..syntrifical force is at work...and the crack stays closed....But under a load (driveing) it puts enough stress on the flex plate to expand the crack.....and its either rubbing on something..or its self..Im not sure..But also check the inspection cover..(are they still made of metal?) If they are...when the motor torques to one side it maybe hitting the fly wheel...(flexplate)...causeing your ticking sound.

 

Perhaps check lower engine and transmission mounts, see if they are worn and when you place it in gear causes the issue.

Did you go with upper poly mounts? If so, I noticed since they don't forgive any movement, when in gear my Monte can get some weird tick-like noise from the front, it's just the pass-through bolt smacking the metal tube in the poly mount. I've been trying to think of a way to quiet it a tiny bit, nothing comes to mind....

 

Maybe you can put silicone in metal tube ?

 

To me it sounds more like an exhaust leak still or that lifter tick. I can now hear it a little bit on cold start. Also if I rev it really fast I can hear it for about a second. It's coming from around the rear manifold area. I know its not leaking at the DP flange either. Like i said it started when i had the clogged cat still on so im thinking that i may have damaged something for driving it like that. I can try and get a video for you guys later I'm really getting fed up with this monte and all the problems it has though lol

I mean the car drives fine and all but that ticking is annoying oh and I have all stock engine mounts now jason lol

 

Maybe back pressure from the clogged cat caused a portion of the manifold to head gasket to blow? Use a piece of hose and listen around the manifold and see if you can pinpoint where the ticking sound is coming from.

 

Might be the flange on the beginning of the DP, I got my dp installed at a shop and they never got it to seal correctly and I have a small amount of air coming through. Pop the hood and put your hand over the flange and pull the throttle on the throttle body and feel for air... A good indication of an exhaust leak is the smell in the engine bay

 

Check around your intake for anything - if it was lifter tick like on the 31 and 3400s it would be doing it when cold and not under load, then stop once it warms up, so I wouldn't think it would be your lifters.

 

I thought of that, but there is not much space to work with.... But thanks for the idea.

@Frank - I just had a thought. You can hear it on the back of the engine. Check your spark plugs! Engine cold, just take your hand and see if any wiggle. My 3100 had a plug that kept coming loose (eventually the threads stripped, I think this was due to the first time I changed plugs, previous owner had one over torqued in there). Each time it came loose, I heard a weird ticking noise (oddly, never had a performance problem, engine still ran tip-top). Usually I could see the plug wire move frantically when I'd rev the engine which is what led me to the loose plug (on a 3800, that may not happen so much).
I eventually had to use a Sav-a-Thread heli-coil kit and did it all with the head on the block.
Other thing to look for would be anything that is loose back there or disconnected.

 

My exhaust leak certainly sounds like a ticking sound. Cant really hear it unless im next to someone or in an enclosed area. You know that clapping sound open manifolds make, an exhaust leak will be almost the same but escaping through the leaking area.