tapping sound

I was just out driving my car, trying to see if I fixed an oil leak I have, when I came across another problem... there's a tapping noise coming out of my right valve cover. Now, I'm no automotive genius. I other than the easy repairs, like tune up or oil change, I've got no clue what's going on with my car. Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing it? It's not constant... but you can hear it with the hood closed, over the engine and exhaust noise. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated before I shell out hundreds of dollars to replace everything. :2cents:

Could be a lifter ticking...does it go away after it runs for a while? Or is it contantly ticking? If it goes away, it may be that a lifter is starting to go and is leaking down when it sits. After it runs for a while though, the oil fills the lifter back up and it stops. If it does it all the time, then its possible the lifter is just bad.

It's not constant, in that, it sounds more like morse code than a clock ticking, but it doesn't stop as the engine warms up. It keeps going the whole time the engine is running.

I'd check out those lifters...it sounds like valve train noise. If you're not familiar with engines, I'd have it checked out at a shop just so you don't end up tearing down half your engine and get stuck. Not to mention, working on the engine in the engine compartment isn't always the easiest task.

Sounds like a loose rocker arm to me. After alot of miles the nut tend to loosen a bit. What year car is it? and if you take off the valve cover and start the car you should be able to see the noisey rocker. Then you loosen the nut til you can remove the pushrod. Examine the pushrod to make sure it isn't bent If it checks out. twist the pushrod while tighten the nut til there is no more play. Then give it the nut a 1/4-1/3 turn to actuate the plunger and then your done. Also the if the rocker is a intake rocker then make sure the exhaust rocker is in the open position or vice versa before attempting this or it will just create more problems and if its more than one rocker just repeat this step for each one til you no longer have valvetrain noise. Good Luck
John

If you can hear a dedicated miss in the tuneup,it possibly has a broken or worn down exhaust cam lobe,or misadjusted exhaust valve.If you cant hear it as much ,but you are experiancing a unknown powerloss,its a intake lobe or intake valve adjustment problem.usually a tapping noise indicates a parts failure due to wear or abuse,to the camshaft,pushrods,or lifters.You can temporarily mask the parts failure by adjusting the rocker arms.find out exactly what you have.Some like to be cold set.Some while running.Others with a feeler gauge.
I cant remember how the chart goes but its usually better to follow the chart,and instructions when setting valves.At work i use a chart my boss made that tells you to put it at tdc,and tighten eight valves,and then you put the motor 180 out,and set the other 8.

Well for people that have a hard time finding TDC, Intake open exhaust, exhaust open adjust intake works the same exact way and I have heard of a ton of chevy small blocks and LT1's with valvetrain noise (such as ticking) with no more than a loose rocker arm or bent pushrod from over revving. So don't always jump to worse case scenario although remember it always could be a more serious problem. Good Luck.

yeah dont jump the gun i guess.maybe im the unlucky one who goes thru cam after cam and so on.