Good evening.
I am finally back in the P38 game after taking nearly a year to replace my shattered flex-plate. I also had some "ticking" sound from a hole in the exhaust manifold, got that welded too.
Since this car is constantly testing my faith, now I have a new sound ^^.
When engine is cold it sounds fine, when it warms up there is a ticking sound, coming from the middle of the engine. I have used a mechanics' stethosope to find the sound but it sounds the same everywhere. Up, down, left right. Sound very central like where the camshaft is. It is also about 6 times a second, so quite exactly half the RPM, so camshaft speed.
Any ideas please what that could be ? I was already fearing the liners.....
I have attached a sound file, first couple seconds engine cold, then engine warm.....
greetings,
Max.
https://c.web.de/@337510546125364120/wG6ArPRS8KkJ1kI5dHarGA
(you have to mark the whole link and then paste into browser...don´t know how to do it better...)

sorry but page cannot be found. six times a second is alot of rattles. does it sound like a kid on a bike with a card on his spokes . if so i doubt its a cam issue.
managed to get your link to work and it does sound like lifters, if it's been sitting it could be a sticky lifter. you should be able to hear the rattle from the top of the tappet cover to give you an idea of which one or one's it is.

Definitely sounds like lifters to me or a worn rocker or rocker shaft. I agree it is at camshaft speed. If it was a hydraulic lifter leaking down, it would be worse on initial start up and then get quieter as the oil pressure builds up. What oil do you have in it? If it is too thin, it may be OK when cold but thins down too much when it gets hot and the oil pressure drops. Anything less than 10W-40 is too thin.

OK, thanks for the pointer in a direction. Does it make sense that they tick when warm ? I only knew it the other way round.
Oil I use is a 15w-50, but it's been in there a while...
Maybe a flush with a solvent and then oil change...?
Would like not to tear apart everything again, especially as I have the LPG setup on the inlet manifold...
Does driving with a sticky lifter do any harm ?
But I am happy that it does not seem to be a slipped liner, I don't think I would rectify that anymore .
Greetings,
Max.

If the oil has been in there while it has been standing, a change isn't a bad idea anyway. If you put some high detergent oil through it, something intended for use in a diesel, that should wash out any residue or gum.

without knowing the motor i would change the oil first and put in an engine oil stabilizer "oil additive usually comes in a liter bottle " use about half a bottle and just see what comes of it .

Maybe I'll do a flush before change and then some additive afterwards, found one especially for noisy lifters....usually don't believe in magic potions but what have I to lose ...:-)

i imagine that it has many miles on the old girl and to give it an oil additive is like giving it a bit of love in my opinion. i defiantly will not hurt anything.

My P38 had a ticking noise both when cold & warm for about ten years & 80K miles. It never got any worse nor seemed related to any performance problem. I always put it down to sticky lifters. It was only cured when I had V8 Developments completely refurbish the engine 18 months ago.

I think mine sounds exactly like the video and always has done. "Clack clack clack clack" at idle... The cam is definately worn on mine (along with the bores and everything else 🤣) as i could see some dishing to the lifters when i did the head gaskets last year. I've employed the ostrich approach though.

I put in an engine cleaning agent, let it idle 15 min., did oil and filter change (Oil was so black as I only see it when changing oil on a diesel engine) put new 15W-50 oil in and added an oil additive especially for noisy lifters. Still sounds exactly the same.
But it needed a change anyway and from what I here here I shouldn´t worry to much about it.
I also feel a slight roughness/coughing every couple of seconds (did that before too). Could that be from a worn cam too...?
Is it possible to run the engine without valve covers or would that make an oil mess...?
It´s weird having such a smooth engine but then having to put up with such quirks....but then again, as long as it runs OK....:-)

I also have no Idea how much mileage the engine has, the odometer says 278.000 km but the prevoius ownder said the engine was replaced once and the km on the odometer are the kms the engine did, the car has more...but it doesn´make sense to me how that can be done....

One other thing you can check which can cause a similar noise is the flywheel. The noise will sound like it is coming from everywhere and anywhere but will be louder from underneath the car. On a GEMS you've got the tags that sit either side of the crank position sensor and it is easy to bend them slightly when doing the flex plate bolts up. Drop the lower cover off and slowly turn the engine over with a big screwdriver in the ring gear. You are looking for a tag that is slightly out of line with all the others.

I actually had that already....!
After I finally changed the flex-plate and ran the engine for the first time it ran for about 15 minutes before it just died. Thought there was no petrol left as it had been sitting for a while on reserve and I had no idea how much was in the tank. Went to the petrol station, got some petrol, still no running engine.
Did all kind of fault-finding for hours, thought the fuel pump died because of running dry.
Finally had a look at the CPS and saw that the metal tip was gone...sheared off by the tags on the flywheel...! Ordered a new CPS, bent the tag that had the corresponding marks on it back into place and it went again.
I also had another look at the CPS again - because the sound does sound a bit louder from the bottom - but it was undamaged. Can the tags hit anything else down there...?