My '99 3.0 V6 started making a rhythmic, rolling kind of medium pitch noise today. Sort of a click, but not really (it's hard to describe).
Easily heard at idle and tied to engine revs.

I got a short video where the noise is easy to hear.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Cqe...VUNvxjERa/view

The engine is a remanufactured one, replaced about four years ago. I've only put about 20K on it since (I only go about 100 miles most weeks).

It's been losing oil for a while now, somewhere, but not burning it. I've watched the level like a hawk though, keeping it on 5K changes with Mobil1. And this sound started after just changing the oil last week.
I've taken it back to the shop that replaced the engine a couple of times and the manager can't find the issue. They're either incompetent or scam artists, probably both.
They did change the camshaft synchronizer a couple of years ago though, which I think probably rules that out. And this isn't the higher pitched sound that the syncs usually make.
I changed the plugs late last year and a couple were black, so I'm thinking rings or something internal isn't right.

Would cams or valves in distress have this sort of tick to them?
Or is this more the sound of an accessory?

EDIT: I meant to say that the oil schedule has been 5 months or 5K, whichever came first. So the changes have been every 5 months. Overkill probably, but that's what the apparently useless warranty on the engine requires.

Any help is appreciated!

 

Might just be a loose spark plug wire

But what you want to do is to listen when engine bay is quieter

When engine is STONE COLD, i.e. sat over night or for at least 6 hours
Loose fan belt and remove it from Crank pulley
Now start the engine
With no fan it will be much quieter, battery light will stay on, thats OK
You can only run the engine under 2 minutes this way, with no water pump, so be quick about it

You can repeat this as much as you want, IF........you let engine cool off FIRST

If click goes away then noise was coming from alternator, or another pulley powered/spun by the fan belt

 

Thanks for the tip RonD. I'd never heard of trying that to test the accessories (I don't turn a wrench very often).

I went out to study the belt geometry before it started raining here, and I found out where my oil may be going. There appears to be a shallow pool on top of the intake manifold down below all the hoses and stuff on top of the engine. I'd noticed a while back that oil was seeping up over the surface of the manifold (you can see it's stained in my video), but had never before thought to go snooping down low for it. It's weird to me that I have never smelled any oil burning despite it pooling there on top of the motor, but I guess it doesn't get hot enough there to burn it off.

There's also a thin coating on the passenger side valve cover that appears to have come out of the twenty year old filler cap, time for a new one I guess.

Rain moved in before I got a chance to pull the belt, unfortunately.

 

My truck started doing the same thing I even changed a couple of pulleys the idler and the tensioner neither one made any difference. I listened with a stethoscope but the noise Seemed like it was coming from everywhere.
finally I sprayed a little WD-40 on the smooth side of the belt and the noise stopped for a few minutes. Replace the belt with a cheap master pro and the noise went away noise came back in about a week I took the belt off exchanged it for a gates gaterback and no more noise that was six months ago. I looked at the master Pro where it was put together and they just didn’t get enough rubber on the staples they were hitting every time It came around. Worth a shot especially if the noise goes away when you take the belt off.

 

Or the record that clicking sound sounded a lot like a high tension spark plug wire snap when the boot comes loose only it were a good bit louder than that.
also I marked the belt with a piece of chalk and it clicked once every time the Mark came around.
hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the info Harmony162. This belt should only have 20K on it and it doesn't look worn, but based on the quality of the work done by that rebuild shop I'm guessing they used the cheapest belt they could find.

I got a chance to go out and try the belt removal trick yesterday. I spun the accessories, the alternator turns freely with a faint ticking noise. The disengaged compressor clutch spins freely also with a very faint tick.
The power steering pump however doesn't want to spin at all, takes a bit of force to turn. There's also about a 1/8th inch back and forth play on the PS pump pulley.

Anyway, I ran it without the belt and the noise was gone. I was hopeful this meant I had isolated it to the accessories.
But I put the belt back on and the noise remained gone. Yay, I guess.
I'm wondering if it is an accessory and I inadvertently re-seated something by manually spinning them.
Or, based on what Harmony162 said, if it is the belt, removing and reinstalling it might have made it go away.

I'm having the clutch rebuilt soon, and will probably see about a new power steering pump as well. The pump has well over 200K on it and is whining and shuddering more and more.
But I have another trick in the toolbox now, and if I hear the noise again I will chalk mark the belt and attempt to check for a correlation between the noise and the belt.

I also learned you really don't want the wrench sitting on the tensioner pully to pop off and fall into the fan shroud. My big mitts wouldn't fit between the fan blades and I had to unclip the whole shroud to recover the wrench. :)

 

You shouldn't be able to turn a power steering pump by hand, that is normal, and the play is normal

Yes, hopefully the tick won't come back but if it does redo that test

 

I have a sort-of similar sound... well had.
Last month I pulled the belt tensioner off. Popped off the sealed bearings dust cover, cleaned and Moly-Greased the bearing.
Sound ALMOST disappeared but as time went on, it's totally silent.
No, I didn't see a bearing number, it was installed wrong way round. ANYONE KNOW THAT NUMBER?

 

I hadn't considered pulley bearings. A mechanic suggested putting the metal end of a long screwdriver to the pulley bolt as a kind of stethoscope. Maybe I'll (carefully) try that if the noise returns.

 

A length of Vacuum hose or similar small hose is much better to use as a stethoscope, its also good to fix vacuum leaks

 

I tried that vac-hose trick, it doesn't pickup those faint high pitched TICKS or bearing rumbles.
Tho rubber getting caught in moving parts is safer.

I bought a Doc's Stethoscope in hopes of hearing even better, sad to say it picks up ambient noise.
I'll try gluing a metal rod to the diaphragm. Hopefully that loudness doesn't blow out my eardrums.