Ticking / Slapping Noise Coming From Engine

[RichBinAZ]

That noise is the sound of compressed air escaping. Hopefully it is just the spark plug, the worst thing is a burned valve. Some of the debris may have got caught in the valve seat.
The valve clearance check you are going to do should find if there is debris on the seat - it should show up as a large clearance on that valve.
If the valve is burnt and has a hole, it may show up as zero clearance - and that is a lot more work involving the timing belt - something I haven't tackled yet.

This is one reason why I don't believe the torque value that the plug manufacturers use on the spark plugs - specially when they are new. I say crush that gasket flat so the plug is tight and won't loosen up and come out - which is no doubt what happened to the original plug.
Of course you don't want to overtighten the plug, but if you put new plugs in, go back after a couple of 100 miles and re-tigten the plugs. I also use chain spray (from my motorbikes) on the threads, so I can get them out next time. Dry is bad.

 

[CDsDontBurn]

I'll be doing this tomorrow and hopefully doing the valve job as well.

I'm with you on the thinking that this is gas escaping and have also been thinking it was from the spark plug that blew up. It's what I had been thinking of as being the cause of this shortly after taking this video.

I'm just hoping that the threads in the head are alright as the old spark plug looked like it had shredded the threads and was also incredibly difficult to take out, most likely because the threads were shredded. If they're not fine, then I'm going to need either a new head or rebuild the threads on this head. Or if I want to get away with it cheap, find some sort of compound to "fill in" the threads and perma stick the threads to the chamber. But that last one would mean that I could never use this head ever again or have it rebuilt later on.

 

[CDsDontBurn]

Update:

I didn't actually have a chance to get this done on Sunday like I wanted to because my friend who was going to help me had some stuff come up last minute. So, in the mean time, I've been looking up other misc. stuff to replace that needs to get replaced anyways. And I came across THIS

I'm going to be buying this gasket kit right now because it's the best deal for the gaskets I plan on replacing, but what are the four gaskets there in the middle? At first I thought they were for the heads, but it's only 4 gaskets, so clearly it's not. I'm trying to think of where on the v6 they will go on, but I can't think of where.

As for the job itself, I'll be doing it for sure this Saturday if I get all these parts in by then. If not, it'll be the weekend after.

 

[RichBinAZ]

The only gasket I'm familiar with there is the intake one with the 6 offset holes. And you really don't need to replace it. When I do the valve adjustment, I leave the throttle valve on the manifold and just disconnect all the stuff going to it. If this is your first time, take photo's as you go so you know where it all goes back

I have also figured out a way to recondition the metal gaskets, so you don't have to buy new - sometimes they cost a fortune, specially on jap bikes.
Use the 2nd method I show here, it works, even on head gaskets.

 

[CDsDontBurn]

Yesterday my dad came over and he helped me out a little bit on this (he's a master mechanic and knows his stuff). He had already known that the spark plug in cylinder #3 had blown up as I had shown him pictures of the spark plug. He thinks, and I'm going to agree with him on this, that when the spark plug was destroyed, it also destroyed the threads of the cylinder head and that most likely I'll need to have the head re-built (basically have the threads bored out, have an insert installed and have that re-threaded) to address cylinder #3. In the mean time as a "mickey-mouse" fix, he applied this stuff called Quick Steel to see how that goes. Since this is only temporary, he expects that over time it will just wear down and I'll need the re-build done anyways. The thing he's not sure on is how long.

With that said, the likely loss of compression on cylinder #3 was likely due to the spark plug not sitting correctly because of the missing threads. Additionally, again due to missing threads, my dad found that the spark plug for cylinder #3 was actually quite loose which would have also contributed to the loss of compression.

For added measure of precaution, my dad and I both checked all the other spark plugs to see if they had come loose in the 2 weeks or so since I had replaced the old spark plugs. It was our surprise that some of them had been a little loose. When we did the spark plugs, we set them in until the reached the end and then made an additional 1/4 turn which was the exact same thing I had done before when I set them in two weeks ago. He's unsure as to why that happened and it concerns him that it may happen again and cause more issues with the other spark plugs later down the road.

The only gasket I'm familiar with there is the intake one with the 6 offset holes. And you really don't need to replace it. When I do the valve adjustment, I leave the throttle valve on the manifold and just disconnect all the stuff going to it. If this is your first time, take photo's as you go so you know where it all goes back

I have also figured out a way to recondition the metal gaskets, so you don't have to buy new - sometimes they cost a fortune, specially on jap bikes.
Use the 2nd method I show here, it works, even on head gaskets.

I've already cleaned out the EGR port 3 times with the most recent time being about 3 months ago. So I'm pretty familiar with the process already and taking everything apart only takes me about 30 minutes to do starting from prepping for the job. The last time I did it, I noticed quite a bit of oil all over the gasket on both sides, which to me indicates some sort of problem. So, I'm playing it safe by this and replacing all gaskets I'm aware of when I finally do end up doing the valve job and likely head job.

The top gaskets are the throttle body gaskets (left and center) and the third is the EGR valve gasket. The entire gasket kit I pictured only came out to like $23. Of all the gaskets I do need, I just need the IM one and the EGR one. However, the IM one alone is $21 and the EGR is another $2, so I figured why not get all these other gaskets for the same price as those two? Same brand and everything, so I figured why not? I'm just not familiar with the four gaskets in the middle and I'm curious to know where those go to.

As for the reconditioning guide you linked, have you updated the results of the gasket with the RTV Black yet?

 

[CDsDontBurn]

After work yesterday, I went to go inspect how the spark plug ended up sitting in it's socket / chamber and...well...with the help of my dad, I'm going to be taking apart my car's rear head for a rebuild. I'll probably have to buy a new spark plug too, lol.

 

[CDsDontBurn]

I ended up taking my car to a shop yesterday. I don't have an impact gun to take off the timing belt in order to get to the head like I wanted to. Even if I did, I don't have a spot to hook it up to here at my apartment.

 

[LeAccord]

Update:

I didn't actually have a chance to get this done on Sunday like I wanted to because my friend who was going to help me had some stuff come up last minute. So, in the mean time, I've been looking up other misc. stuff to replace that needs to get replaced anyways. And I came across THIS

I'm going to be buying this gasket kit right now because it's the best deal for the gaskets I plan on replacing, but what are the four gaskets there in the middle? At first I thought they were for the heads, but it's only 4 gaskets, so clearly it's not. I'm trying to think of where on the v6 they will go on, but I can't think of where.

As for the job itself, I'll be doing it for sure this Saturday if I get all these parts in by then. If not, it'll be the weekend after.

Those 4 gaskets are the intake manifold stay gaskets.
#9 and 10

Thanks for the link to rockauto btw. I cannot source those gaskets as in that kit for any cheaper than $120 here in Australia. Its $78 shipped to me but thats as cheap as I'm gonna find.

Hope you get your engine fixed without too much hassle. Sounds like a bit of a headache though..

 

[CDsDontBurn]

Those 4 gaskets are the intake manifold stay gaskets.
#9 and 10

Thanks for the link to rockauto btw. I cannot source those gaskets as in that kit for any cheaper than $120 here in Australia. Its $78 shipped to me but thats as cheap as I'm gonna find.

Hope you get your engine fixed without too much hassle. Sounds like a bit of a headache though..

Thanks a bunch on finding out where those gaskets go to! I swear I would have never found it out on my own.

Regarding the gasket kit I got though, I'm not sure I feel comfortable with the IM and EGR ones. The IM one is basically three sheets of metal attached to each other via two rivets on either end of the gasket. The OEM one is actually one thick piece of metal. Not sure if we're supposed to remove the rivet or what, but that's how the gasket came.

The little one I thought was the EGR gasket, but it's not. It's actually #5 in that diagram you posted up, lol.

 

[LeAccord]

No problems. Soccerchamp16 actually told me the part numbers a while back so I'm just passing along the knowledge.

Have you got a picture of the gaskets you got? Sounds a bit unusual that they're basically three-ply metal rather than a thick piece. Although I wouldn't know regardless because I haven't even seen IM gaskets for myself, lol.

I believe #5 is called a boost chamber gasket.

EGR gasket is more like this.