Thread: 229 V6-- Need advice

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Hi, this looks like a great forum!

I have a 1981 Chevy Malibu I bought that is in darn near like new condition with one slight problem, a small tick in the original 229 V6, it only has 50k original miles and was well maintained. Here are the details:

It will start ticking only when fully warmed up. When cold, it's quiet. It definitely sounds like a valve train tick though. The tick seems to be coming from the left (drivers) side of the engine, so I ruled out the exhaust heat riser valve as its on the other side. The tick sort of comes and goes as the engine is revved up, but is very (most) present at idle speed. Actually when you put the car in drive, the tick is hard to notice though, but idling in park it's very present and not what I consider normal.

So far I replaced the cam and lifters with new Melling parts, although the original parts removed looked fine with little noticeable wear. The timing chain had minimal play in it, and it was the original GM cam sprocket that to my surprise was not the nylon gear type. I put everything back together, but the cam and lifter set made no difference- same tick under the same conditions.

Questions?? Could the distributor gear make this sort of noise? If that's not it, what else could it be? It doesn't sound like bearing noise or anything underneath, but I'm open to ideas. I don't have the cash to replace the V6 engine with a small block at this time and am hoping I can quiet this V6 down a little until I save up for something better.

Thanks in advance for any ideas I can try to remedy the threshing machine!

-Mark-

Oh forgot to mention the rocker arms and pushrods were also replaced with new Clevite parts.