When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I agree I hear ticking and what appears to be a very high idle.
Originally Posted by Schiller7
I definitely can hear the ticking sound in the video as you stated. My C8 does not sound like that when it is idling. Not sure what your problem may be but something definitely does not sound right. Hopefully you can get your problem resolved.
I just want to point out that the car wasn't idling in that video. It was actually being held at 1700 RPM via my scan tool.
Originally Posted by Surfnboy
Let me know if you find out anything on this, My car has the same exact sound and always had. I took it in a few months back and they said that it is completely normal and said that another c8 they had on the lot had the same noise, so since then I have just ignored the sound.
Yeah, I went to a local car meet and there were 4 C8s there. I didn't get a chance to listen to any of them, but I did talk to the owners. All of them said their car makes no noise, which was concerning.
But then I go online and see some people say theirs makes the same noise. Normally, I'd attribute this to differences in people's perception of sound, but in this case, I don't see how anyone could have the sound I have at 1800 RPM while driving and _not_ notice it.
I've had two separate friends get in my car and immediately call it out lol
I guess it's good that other people have the noise too - I just wish either everyone or no one did.
If someone could make a video of their car at 1800 in 1st and 2nd gear on a quiet road, it would help a lot.
^^^
Hmm, sorry but having a hard time trying to understand your angst about “a sound” at 1800 rpm some others said they also hear. Heck I was just at a car show and brought the C8 versus my usual ProStreet ’34 Ford with an 8.2 Liter BB I assembled from some 30 boxes. A number of folks asked me to start the engine and I did for a short time- could have asked unless you’d rather just worry!
Let’s see, the LT2 has the same bore spacing and configuration as the pushrod small block in my ~160 hp ’56 Chevy! It has the same 8 pistons/pins, 16 valves, pushrods, rocker arms and lifters, etc. BUT GM has been able to get 495 hp with an aggressive cam that has the valves lifting very high and seating with a lot of force, the roller lifters and rocker arms have hundreds of needle bearings compared to my '56 with none. Unlike the carburetor in the '56 that made zero noise, the LT2 has 8 diesel type high pressure injectors that have to open and shut very quickly with ~3000 lb fuel pressure to get gasoline in the high air pressure when each piston on the compression stroke near TDC.
In addition it has 4 exhaust butterfly valves and linkage. Two operate on all cars when it goes into V4 mode. They and their linkage can rattle. Perhaps the natural frequency of the assembly is close to 1800 rpm and may make more noise. BTW, mine never operate as I drive in Z Mode Power set to Track, BUT they could rattle.
Again sorry for being an *** but you might do as I do and have the sound system playing 100% of the time to drown out tire and road noise. It's not nearly as bad as my two C7's but got used to listening to "oldies" in that 7 year time period!
Now sometimes when you are being paranoid there is a good reason. Hope not it your case!
Hmm, sorry but having a hard time trying to understand your angst about “a sound” at 1800 rpm some others said they had. Heck I was just at a car show and brought the C8 versus my usual ProStreet ’34 Ford with an 8.2 Liter BB I assembled from some 30 boxes. A number of folks asked for me to start the engine and I did for a short time- could have asked unless you’d rather just worry!
Let’s see, it’s the same bore spacing and configuration as the pushrod small block I had in my ’56 Chevy! It has the same 12 valves, pushrods, rocker arms and lifters, pistons etc. BUT GM has been able to get 495 hp with an aggressive cam that has the valves lifting high and seating with a lot of force, the roller lifters and rocker arms have hundreds of needle bearing compared to none in my '56. Unlike the carburetor in the '56 that made zero noise, the LT2 has 8 diesel type high pressure injectors that have to open and shut with 3000 lb fuel pressure to get gasoline in the high air pressure when each piston on the compression stroke near TDC. In addition it has 4 exhaust bottlefly valves and linkage. Two operate on all cars when it goes into V4 mode. They can rattle. Perhaps the natural frequency of the assembly is close to 1800 rpm and may make more noise. BTW, mine never operate as I drive in Z Mode Power set to Track, BUT they could rattle.
Again sorry for being an *** but you might, as I and have the sound system playing 100% of the time to drown out tire and road noise. It's not nearly as bad as my two C7's but got used to listening to "oldies" in that 7 year time period! But sometimes when you are being paranoid there is a good reason. Hope not it your case!
Try to look at it from my perspective. I just paid $81,000 for a brand new car that makes a metal-on-metal ticking sound that most other C8's apparently do not make. If every other C8 sounded exactly the same, then I wouldn't care at all, even if it was loud, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Yes, I can drive the car and ignore it, but that doesn't change the fact that something is apparently wrong. Who's to say it won't detonate right outside of the warranty period?
I see the same thing being suggested for people with the gear whine issue - "just drive it until it blows up". Why? So the rear wheels can lock up at 80 MPH on the highway?
I suspect this type of response is because most people on here are die hard Corvette fans and don't want to acknowledge any possibility of a fault. I get it, but that's not me. I bought this car not because I love Corvettes, but because it simply makes sense from a cost/performance perspective when you compare it to other cars in its class, regardless of manufacturer. I have no "skin in the game" here. In a way, that's the highest compliment of their engineering achievement.
My sound tracks directly with engine RPM at a factor of 1/2 (i.e., the valvetrain speed), so I don't think it's the exhaust valves being rattled at some resonant frequency. I hear the sound at other RPM, but it is loudest at 1700-1800. I do hear the exhaust valves slam shut, but that's normal and not bothersome. Maybe I'm hearing just one injector, but the sound does not change at all with varying load, nor does it go away during deceleration fuel cut (when coasting down with foot off of the accelerator).
I can speculate forever, but what really matters is whether ALL C8's make the same sound or not. If not, then there's a problem, regardless of the cause.
I'm really not trying to come off like a dick, but I'm aware of what DI sounds like and I dread the moment that every odd noise that someone points out is dismissed as injector noise. Pretty much every single car on the market today has DI now and has for a while. My BMW from 2011 has it. Direct injection sounds like regular fuel injection, just louder. Injectors tick at a rate of 4x the crankshaft, and can be easily heard by putting a screwdriver to your ear and the driver's side fuel line.
Again, I don't mean to be an *******, but I refuse to accept this as normal until I can confirm for myself that every C8 makes the same sound. Until then, I will continue to bitch about it.
^^^
Don’t get me wrong and being a gearhead since 13, now 78, have heard a lot of sounds that frankly could not identify. Reminded of a rear end noise in my ‘56 Chevy I wanted to know what it was. Brought the car to my uncles service shop. Before being a GM of the large Chevy Dealership he was the service manager. He helped with assembling the Olds engine I stuffed in my ‘41 Ford coupe bought for ~$10 with parts all in peach baskets!.
He asked their best mechanic to ride in the trunk as we drove and listened for the noise. Made right and left turns to see if the pitch changed indicating a possible wheel bearing. When we came to a stop his best tech said really can’t isolate the noise. Uncle said whatever it is will not cause a failure. Drive it!
Yep you should bring it to a dealer and see what they say. We can predict here that it will be “that’s normal.” Only way to tell for sure if yours is unique is to listen to some others. Can’t go by what we say hear as we can’t hear what you are! (Some like myself can't hear anything unusual from your video's- but could be my old ears! Heck hearing the exhaust valves close, your ears are more like my 5 month old poodle pup!
PS: I was being the ***, as I said. Here is a pic of our 5 month old pup after his spring clip! Sure has good ears!
My educated guess would be the high pressure fuel pump. We have a lot of concerns due to ticking type noises that are often found to be part of the normal operation of the HPFP. As others have mentioned, I'd try to use a stethoscope to see if you can isolate the area where it sounds the loudest and focus around the valley of the engine to see if that's it. The HPFP is located at the back of the engine, under the intake manifold and driven off lobes on the camshaft. I've heard a lot of LT engines and yours doesn't sound excessively loud, but some are less obvious, some are more.
In either case, I wouldn't worry too much about it, especially with so much warranty left. If the thing is starting to fail and the noise is because of an issue with the pump, you'll know way before your warranty is up.
^^^^ Good point! I recall for my early 2014 C7 there were intake manifolds found that did not have the insulation properly in place underneath that helped reduce noise from that high pressure pump.
An exhaust leak can sound like a metal ticking sound. I had this happen to me on a header collector that was cracked. Good luck on troubleshooting the sound.
Mine makes the same noise. Like a sewing machine. Been super busy and don't have the time to drive with just shy of 500 miles in 4 months but I thought it wasn't there before. Then again the music is blasting when I drive so maybe I just haven't noticed it. Car drives and performs just fine and no issues. I'm just going to drive it until or "IF" something happens. Gotta make time to drive it more. Definitely keep us posted if you find something out.
Managed to capture another video if anyone is interested. The noise starts at about 6 seconds in.
For what it's worth, I got a chance to check out another C8 and that one didn't seem to make the same noise. It had some level of ticking, but it didn't seem as pronounced as mine. Not sure what to make of that.
That's exactly how mine sounds. Probably hard for other to hear but I hear it. You're first video is much better though. Funny thing is that I let my brother take the car for a drive with his son and when he came back he mentioned that there was a chatter sound coming from the engine and if that was normal. That's when I started paying attention.
Not mechanically inclined at all and new to motorsport and cars in general, but found myself here. Couldn't watch the video to hear the sound so can't compare but there's a rattle/ticking that shows up around 1800 rpm as well. Also it sounds like the exhaust valves are opened up even in tour mode around that time. All I know is that it didn't happen when I got it which is my reasoning for concern. 1600 miles now, no CEL.
Please make your YouTube video public if that’s ok- couldn’t watch it because it’s on private 🙌
Same here. I can't see the videos... how annoying. The guy asks for help and opinions and then makes the videos private. I found this thread since my car probably makes the same ticking sound.
Have you taken your C8 back to the dealer to get their opinion on this noise?
It's possible, though perhaps not probable that they may know or be able to find the source of the noise.
If not, you will at least be on record as having reporting the issue if engine does eventually fail.
Same here. I can't see the videos... how annoying. The guy asks for help and opinions and then makes the videos private. I found this thread since my car probably makes the same ticking sound.
OP hasn’t posted since April 2. That was over 13 weeks ago! Probably sold the car and moved on. No need to reply to this thread any longer.
03-20-2021, 07:03 PM
Again sorry for being an *** but you might do as I do and have the sound system playing 100% of the time to drown out tire and road noise. It's not nearly as bad as my two C7's but got used to listening to "oldies" in that 7 year time period!
Good point! I recall for my early 2014 C7 there were intake manifolds found that did not have the insulation properly in place underneath that helped reduce noise from that high pressure pump.
Gotta make time to drive it more. Definitely keep us posted if you find something out.
