Tried my best to find a thread about this but couldn't find anything. So why not ask here

My 2003 350z has been having a ticking noise that gets louder as the RPM gets higher. Bought the car about a 2 months ago with 168k miles. The car was recently serviced 3 weeks ago (new radiator, thermostat, oil change as I had very little oil). But the noise didn't start until a few days before it was serviced. Sadly, I forgot to ask the mechanic to check this out.

What It Sounds Like:
Whenever I rev my engine above 2k, theres a sound thats almost similar to when you put a baseball card in-between your spokes on the bike tire of a bicycle. Thats the best way to describe it. There is no exhaust right now, the headers are basically connected to a Y-pipe but its cut off right about under the seats (previous owner ripped exhaust off on a speed bump), maybe its an exhaust leak?


Any possibilities? Sounds way louder in person especially driving passed a wall or some sort of barrier.

Thanks for any help!
-Lucas

 

Low oil again or possible loose spark plugs are 2 things I've ran into on high mileage vqs

 

Could be an exhaust leak. It typically gets louder the higher you rev.

 

Rod knock????

https://youtu.be/wYMiizZgY60
https://youtu.be/WMLwaS-Q0fk

 

Did you ever get to the bottom of your noise? I have the same thing, after using a stethoscope I think it's an actuator on the drivers side, valve covers are coming off this weekend =(

 

Doubtful it's oil. My VQ35DE is an oil eater and I sometimes get chatter. But usually its at the low end under initial clutch engagement load. Cant hurt to check though.

 

I have not due to my last semester of college starting this last week. I will be doing an oil pressure test tomorrow, as well as removing each coil pack one at a time and flushing out the oil also. Hoping all goes well, hoping its not anything with the valves. Will keep you updated. Anything new with yours??

 

In my search for what was missing i overlooked my belts, one was partially torn and making the sort of ticking & whooshing sound so I had them replaced and the car is silent