Valve train noise

[Sssssss]

I am now a proud owner of my first dream car (97 blue and white) but I have some concerns about the valve train noise. I think it is a simple adjustment, but I want to know if this is normal for a car with 19860 miles. Any and all insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance-

-SSSSSSS

Feel free to email me at [email protected].

 

[Mutts02GTS]

I thought mine had valve train noise "lifter knocking sound" but it turns out that the oil the previous owner had been running was too thin in hot weather, had the correct oil installed and found out even with the right viscosity oil in the motor there was still some valve train noise, just the way a V-10 ticks I guess! One year later and I don't even notice it now. Hope this helps, congrats on the car! Jeff

 

[Cobraken]

Lots of mechanical noise (clatter) at idle is absolutely normal.

 

[Dom426h]

What is your basline? Are you comparing to the sound of your honda's motor?

The 1996-1999 are the roughest running of vipers. Normal sounds like:
-The lumpy cam can be misdiagnosed as a missfire,
-Injector noise misdiagnosed as and exhaust leak,
-Normal Trany wine misdiagnosed as a bad trany,
-Normal NGR(neutral gear rattle) misdiagnosed as a bad clutch or valvtrain noise,

If you are concerned about any noise you viper makes your best bet would be to have a repatable viper mechanic have a listen or attend a VCA meet and have a few fellow viper owners listen to her.

Where abouts are you located Ssssss? Update your profile so itll show up under your username.
Congrats on your new-to-you Viper.

 

[AZTVR]

I am now a proud owner of my first dream car (97 blue and white) but I have some concerns about the valve train noise. I think it is a simple adjustment,

If your engine is stock (no aftermarket rockers) , there is no adjustment. Like others said, you need to find a fellow Gen 2 Viper owner to compare with. (The Viper does not have the amount of sound deadening material that other cars have.) Also, an aftermarket exhaust is an excellent upgrade to the driving experience. It makes all the right noises in the right places.

 

[Martin]

My '97 made a lot of noise from the start, and it bothered me at first. I brought it back to the dealer right after I bought it, and we listened to it, then listened to another '97 and the noise was basically the same. They have very loud injectors, so the clicking sound you hear is most likely related to that.

For some reason, the '97 cars seemed to have a tendency to bend pushrods. I've lost two pushrods on my car so far, and it's very scary but a really easy fix - just pop the valve covers, pull the rocker, and replace them. If you have a slightly bent pushrod (common), it will run fine, but you'll hear a very distinct clacking sound at the site of the bent rod. If you bend the crap out of it (redline 1-2 shift is usually the culprit) it will make a horrific sound. You'll know it if it happens Fortunately, it very rarely leads to other problems unless the rod binds up against something, breaks, or falls down into the engine - then you have problems.

 

[Sssssss]

Thanks for the info, gonna try and compare to another 2nd gen soon but I think I just over analyzed.

 

[JonB]

Thanks for the info, gonna try and compare to another 2nd gen soon but I think I just over analyzed.

The Year Matters...... you gotta compare Gen 2 96-97 .... the later ones sound different, especially 2000+

 

[Sssssss]

The only aftermarket parts on it is corsa axle back exhaust and your right it does make all the right noises in all the right places, I also plan to upgrade the rest in due time. Any suggestions?

 

[Martin]

The only aftermarket parts on it is corsa axle back exhaust and your right it does make all the right noises in all the right places, I also plan to upgrade the rest in due time. Any suggestions?

For a B/W GTS, you're probably best off leaving it as stock as possible - and keeping all the original parts if you do replace some things. Replacing the stock airfilters with K&N filters, and replacing the corrugated intake tubes with smooth silicone tubes will net you around an extra 5-10HP. Sounds like you've already got the Corsa exhaust, so you're set there. Other than that, I'd leave it stock...

 

[JonB]

The only aftermarket parts on it is corsa axle back exhaust and your right it does make all the right noises in all the right places, I also plan to upgrade the rest in due time. Any suggestions?

"Corsa Axle-back"? Corsa has never made such a product for any Viper. If 'someone' bought a used system and plumbed-in the back hafv, I suppose that is possible. Does the rear have an X-pipe blend? RandomTech makes an axle-back rear assy, tips LOOK LIKE a Corsa, but has an X-pipe. IF SO...you can add the front half! Reversable mufflers.

JonB~~~~~<:~

 

[Sssssss]

I may have been misinformed or I just don't know I'll do some research. I have been under the car and it is an x pipe blend not an x pipe
insert per se. The reason I said axle back is because the pipe material changes form corrosive to non corrosive right in front of the axle.
Also do you have any suggestions for headers?