hey whats up i have a really bad tick in the head area of my b16 head. I thought it was a rod at first but its comin from the head mostly. I took my skunk s2's out and head apart and when i press on my LMA'S with my fingures they make a sound and feel weak. Can this be the sound im hearing? Does anyone have or had the same problem were they had to replace there LMA'S and the sound went away????

 

If you press on them and they stick at all then snap back up, then yeah thats no good.
They should retract smoothly and quiet.

When bad they do contribute a lot of ticking or clacking noise to the top end.

 

I had this sound coming from my motor last year which I could have sworn was the lmas so I replaced them with the H22 ones (with spacers). Was much cheaper and IMO is a far better design. Anyway turned out to be torn up pistons from too little piston/wall clearance. Heres a link the vid I posted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkibGNP-rko

 

LMA noise usually gets really loud at 2000-3000 rpm
try to keep the rpms there for some seconds if you hear it more often than in other ranges it is probably those to blame
I really hate the noise they make when they get old (sounds like throwing small stones on the hood)

 

that motor sounds nastee!!