Ticking noise only when cold - leaking gasket?

[macca]

Sorry for yet another post, I'm only 5 weeks into my first Chim and getting to understand her. A few days ago she started making a ticking noise when running from cold. A friend suspects this could be a leaking manifold gasket and early posts on this site seem to suggest the same. However, early posts describe the noise when excelerating or coming off the the throttle - this is not so for me. In my case, it's only while the engine is cold, once it gets to about 50 degrees the noise goes and she runs fine (I suspect this could be down to the manifold making a better seal after expansion from engine heat). Sound familiar to anyone?

[TVR Engineer]

Hard to say without hearing the noise but the manifold bolts are forever working loose and it is part of every service to tighten them. It is very common on Rover V8 engines to replace the gaskets. If the car has done a good few miles since its last service then maybe a tighten is the order of the day but don`t get your hopes up.

[nubbin]

Idon't know if you've read my previous posting on this issue, but it is the manifold gasket. It leaks when cold because as the metal heats up and expands the leak closes - so you get the noise when cold, and when putting a lot of pressure into the exhaust ie. accelerating/slowing. I had this exact problem, and a replacement gasket fixed it. BUT, check your oil level - I got a very similar noise when I'd burn't most of my oil.

[macca]

Not the oil, so I'm going to swing on a few bolts to see if that does the trick. One more question, are the manifold bolts torqued to a specific rate?

[dhwilson]

No idea (perhaps TVR engineer can help here) but some of them are complete b*****ds to get to - I tried!. Idon't think it takes too long to fit a new gasket, especially on the offside bank of cylinders, so why not let your dealer sort it out?

[macca]

Didn't get round to swinging on the bolts (you're right about some of them being hard to get to) but this morning the noise seems to have gone - maybe the damn good blast I had yesterday did the trick - probably welded the manifold to the engine. dhWilson, it was you that told me it mught be the gasket (remember, we spoke on the 'phone, know who I am?) I sent an email to you but no reply, did you get it? Are you nubbin as well?

[trefor]

I think it's a few hours labour to replace the gaskets and you might as well do both if one is blowing - the other will be in a simlar condition. Mine used to blow a little, I tightened it up with an assortment of spanners and it hasn't made a noise in the past 12 months since then. Trefor/.