I did a lot of hard driving over the weekend towing stuff and playing with ricers . I noticed now I have rhythmic ticking sound thats constant and a pause with almost a thud sound after each 6 strokes. Makes the truck sound odd. Does not sound healthy to me at all.
Oil looks clean (black as ink, as usual. No metal or fuel contamination that I can see. engine makes great power. Smokey as always.
I did the old shadetree 'stethoscope' trick and seems like the tapping is most noticeable at #4 valve cover. I might take a peek in there next time I can work on the truck
Anyone have ideas on what to look for? Obviously Ill try loosening injector lines one at a time to see if it follows.. but what about diagnosing stuff like bent pushrods? Im used to working on OHC motors .
I have hamilton valve springs, the spendy beehive type.. and am still running a 3k gov kit on the pump (safer, IMO) so I doubt I floated a valve.

 

Have you cut your filter apart and checked for any metal...

 

Ill change the oil and do that soon

 

Ya know I feel like a real idiot on this one. It turned out to be the valve adjustment.
I had a cam, lifters and tappets installed recently and I guess theyre just bedding in. So there was a lot of extra clearance in some of the valves. That made the motor run rough on a couple cylinders and gave me that thudding / ticking.
Im doing the oil change and analysis regardless. Just to make sure theres no babbitt metal in there, etc.
It will probably show a bunch of wear metals from the pushrods and tappets.