Sorta Urgent - Camaro repair question

[SlyDog]

Hey guys, I guess my death defying driving has finally taken a small ( I hope) toll on my 98 Camaro Its a 3.8 Liter V6 with the 5 spd.

Yesterday I was driving and stopped at a light..and right as I took off the shifter started shaking in my hand and I heard a "ticking" sound from the engine. Sounds sort of like a fan hitting the shroud. Then under acceleration the exhaust sorta coughs and sounds really raspy. So I pulled over and parked in a parking lot....Decided to not risk it and put AAA to use and towed it home.

Soooo any ideas? Is the fuel pump clogged and starving the engine? Thats the only thing my limited knowledge of engines could think of. Any help appreciated!
Although it is nice to be driving the Infiniti around now

 

[SlyDog]

Any ideas would be appreciated! I don't wanna spend money on a diagnostic test if I don't have too...Thanks!

 

[dyeager535]

Rocker arm broken?

Rough running engine, weird exhaust, probably something to do with the valvetrain.

Ticking noise could be anything, rockers, pushrods, lifters, you name it. If it's rockers though, on mine I could hear the ticking coming from "up top"...was very easy to isolate from which side and roughly where without a problem when it was running and I had the hood up.

 

[SlyDog]

Hmm ya, I opened up the hood and popped open the air cleaner and it got louder. I could hear it coming through the air filter hose more distinctly. Does that mean anything? Thanks for any help

 

[dirtwarrior17]

Is there steam comin out the exhaust? take the radiator cap off and run it for 10 seconds. If water shoots out of your radiator you have a blown headgasket. Have you looked at the oil? My moms mustang and my bro's mazda did the same thing... both had blown headgaskets. Check your oil for coolant.

If you hear a ticking it's probably your rockers. Might be an exhaust leak too.

 

[POWERMAD]

Sounds like valvetrain noise, louder through the intake could be an intake valve.
There are alot of it could be's.
By death defying driving I take it ya have wound it up a time or two.
Pull the valve covers and check out the springs and such, make sure everything is where it should be.
If it all looks good pull the ECU fuse and run a compression check, and ya can watch the rockers to see if they all appear to be moving the same.

If there is a dead hole do a pressure test to see where it is going.