Is this something I should be concerned about?

[Uberck]

Hello fellow LS owners, I'm hoping some of you can chime in and tell me if the noise coming from my engine is something to be concerned about.

This video was filmed immediately after a cold start, and I am worried about the tapping/light knocking sound.

This does go away after the car has warmed up, I am hoping this is not something that will lead to a more serious problem down the road.

Please click the link to watch the video and let me know your thoughts, thank you!

https://goo.gl/photos/dy7kyHRNqZAa2guh8

 

[Kumba]

It's kind of hard to judge a sound on video regardless of how you take it. Too much comes into play and it either doesn't sound as bad or can sound worse.

It is pretty common for solid tappet OHC engines to be a little noisy especially when completely cold. Sounds like maybe it could be excessive valve lash and when it heats up things expand and the gap closes. The exhaust valve in particular is noisy as it gets the hottest and has the most lash when cold.

Could be the timing chain tensioners. I have heard of some failure modes where the tensioners stick or leak.

Could also be the oil you are running. If the oil is running off allowing the engine to dry out it could just be noisy until it circulates and everything gets wet enough to quiet down.

Ford is notorious for having excessively loud Fuel Injectors, although those sound more like snapping sounds the clanking ones.

I seriously doubt it's anything in the bottom end. When rods knock they knock. They don't particularly care about anything other then oil pressure. The bottom end of the LS is tight anyways so I doubt you'd even hear the rods knock until it was too late.

Hopefully someone recognizes that particular sound better then I do.

 

[Uberck]

Thanks for your advice Kumba, it is 1,000,000,000 times appreciated.

I went ahead and ordered an oil analysis kit from Blackstone Labs.

Hopefully that will help narrow it down.

Anyone else able to chime in?