Valve tick
 

Okay so i have a '06 f4i with 19900 miles on it. I dropped about a year ago and banged up the right side, then it sat in my garage for about 5 months before i fixed it up. Replaced the cctl, crankcase cover, exhaust, and other misc items. About 2 months ago i started to notice a bit of ticking at idle but nothing severe and unnoticable at highway speeds. Recently the ticking has gotten significantly louder and i believe its time for a valve adjustment. It seems a bit early for he valves to be out of spec, as i've read people have gone almost double my milage before an adjustment.

So i'm just trying to figure out what caused my valves to get out of spec what i consider prematurely. I have had a slow oil leak since the replacement of the crankcase cover but never let oil get low, and never miss an oil change. New filter and oil every 3000 miles. Would this slow leak cause low pressure and effect oil reaching the valves? My oil light has never been on, but i have not checked the pressure with a pressure guage.

My only other guess would be my aftermarket exhaust and no pc3. It is pretty much an open pipe so little to no backpressure there. I did not see much adverse effect in performance from this, but could that lack of pressure be the cause of my valve ticking?

I know i ran on a bit with this post, just been concerned about this over he past few weeks and looking for an outside opinion. If anyone has any input that would be appreciated.

One of my valves ticked from about 5000 miles till I adjusted everything at 32,000 miles. Just because most people don't need adjustment doesn't mean theres something wrong with yours. Honda says to adjust every 16k so you still did better then honda thought you should.

I know im past the initial inspection mark, just being overly cautious. I'm just trying to figure out when i adjust my valves im not going to effect the lashing with my exhaust or the leak causing possible low oil flow to the top of the engine. I plan on doing some maintainence in the up comming months, ie. valve adjustment, throttle body sync, new plugs, and regasket the crankcase cover. I switched over to my stock pipe for the meantime in fear of harming the valves.

Niether of your other "issues" would cause the valves going out of spec, thats purely a wear thing. Oil is pressurized to the head, the only way it isen't getting enough is if your oil level in the pan drops too low and the pickup for the pump doesn't have oil to suck in. As for the exhaust, Im assuming you mean only a slip on and not aftermarket headers as well?

Ha okay, im justing being paranoid. Don't want to hurt my engine over something stupid. Yes its just a slip on. Thank you for clarifying that for me tho, helped ease my worries. Im still somewhat new with doing all my maintenence, stopped dealing with the stealership almost 2 years ago after they so called fixed my regulator rectifier and it overcharged my battery causing it to rupture which then fried my whole harness and ecu.