Colt Hero

'02 Impala 3.4l 103K: Loud(er) Upper Engine Clicking

First noticed the engine clicking last April when the car had about 91k miles on it. At that time - and up until yesterday, I guess, it was only on startup on cold mornings, so I kept an eye on it but didn't really do anything about it.

Today, the noise is louder and it's not going away as the engine warms up - it's staying just as loud. The only thing that changes is the periodicity is slowing down as the engine slows down. It's definitely coming from the very top of the engine, and I'm guessing it's piston slap or lifter noise. I just took the car on a relatively short 170 mile roundtrip this weekend and didn't notice this noise, so I think it just got loud today. I also just changed the oil 1k miles ago, and the dipstick is right up into the cross-hatched area with good color (golden-brown), so that's not it. I always change the oil every 3k miles, so it's not from maintenance neglect. I'm guessing that this is related to the manifold intake leak, which I'm sure the car has, but the leak is very small.

The question is: should I pour in some SeaFoam right now? Does that stuff work? Is there a penalty for using this stuff? I'd like to buy a little time so I can decide what I'm going to do next.

Colt Hero

What about those lubricants to help me make it to the weekend when I'll probably start this project (b/c the car still needs to run about 30 miles per day until then). Will Marvel Mystery Oil or Sea Foam or even Transmission fluid help to clean out the engine's innards before opening it up? A co-worker here just went through a similar problem with his '98 Sierra and he tried MMO and the tranny fluid thing (for two days), but neither made the tapping/clicking noise go away completely. He finally opened it up and changed the bad lifter and gaskets - only to have to open it up again to replace ALL the lifters.

Regarding the intake gasket job.

1.) If I also replace all the lifters, will I have to adjust all the rocker arms? Also, is there a tool to compress the spring on the rocker arm to get the pushrod out w/o touching the rocker arm bolt?

2.) I know I'll need to plug all the holes into the engine after removing the lower intake to clean out the valley, but how do I get any loose gunk out of there? Do I use a shop vac?

3.) Do I use brake cleaner to clean both the intake seal edges and the valley inside the engine?

4.) What is the "grey engine assembly stuff"? At DTips.com, that ASE Master mechanic did a 3.4 intake and it looked like he used a caulking gun to lay a seriously thick bead of grey something stuff. What is this stuff?

5.) Do I have to worry about TDC? I don't remember this being part of the procedure in the manuals. I don't think the distributor (or its replacement - the synchronizer?) is removed.

6.) I've got the Felpro gaskets with the metal frames. Bought them about 8 months ago. I'm pretty sure these are OK to use unless someone thinks otherwise.

I think I can do this job, but it'll be the first time I've dug into the center of an engine. My biggest concern is the little things: keeping everything straight so it all goes back in the way it came out, cleaning everything properly and correctly, torqueing everything properly, lubricating everything properly (the lifters will need Cam lube, right?), etc.

I've got the shop manuals and have spilled out the procedure into a straightline stepwise list, but a few of the steps seem vague to me. Might have to post back with those questions before starting (Hopefully this weekend).