Originally Posted by ohnoesaz

Kiko and others,

I could never isolate the tick, but I did other things and I've either quieted it or I just made it blend in with other sounds...

I drenched the belt and s/c pulley in belt dressing, not a good idea. At the same moment, I bent the heat shield that is near the driver's side exhaust manifold.

Now I can still hear a faint tick, but its a 'dirtier' sound now and not a crisp tick tick tick. Dirtier = less noticeable when on the street so I'm satisfied enough.

I have a new s/c pulley and a s/c idler pulley coming, as well as a new belt, so that installation will tell alot about if the sound was coming from the belt drive system.

If I had to guess, I'd say the tick was coming from the driver's side exhaust manifold, whether it be a leak or just tapping the heat shield, who knows. But mine was always quiet at startup and loud when hot, so it suggests that as metal was expanding it started something would start to touch something.

I'm going to mess with it more but not until after I install the s/c pulley, s/c idler pulley and new belt this weekend. We'll see.