Hi all, I'm new here, but you guys probably knew that.

Like the subject says, my friend bought a '90 shadow 2.2 that sounds pretty gnarly. There is a ticking sound coming from the valve cover loud enough to hear faintly while sitting inside with the doors/windows shut, which, as I take it, is never good. What could htis be and how could we fix this?

Thanks for the help!

Something needs to be tightened. Probably a lifter. Take the valve cover off and have a look.

the hydraulic lash adjusters are probably worn or as BleedDodge said, a rocker arm or lifter is worn or loose

sounds good, I'm glad its not something too detrimental to the engine... still, you never know until you check it, thanks for the help!

Are there any procedures I need to go through to get the cover off, or should I be able to do it with hand tools? I'll need something to seal it up afterwards, right?

Again, thanks for the tips!

The best advice is to get a hayes repair manual. It will have diagrams and pictures of what's under the valve cover.

The clicking noise is definately related to the opening and closing of the valves.

Most engines today are over head cam engines and do not use screw adjusters anymore. They are usually designed to have the overhead cam contact a valve lifter and then the valve directly. An engine like the 3.0L, uses and overhead cam with valve lash adjustors and a rocker arm design.

A valve lash adjustor or a hydrolic lifter can be thought of as a shock absorber. When they go bad, things start bouncing.

I believe the 2.2 engine is the hydrolic lifter type design. If so, you would have to replace the lifters. This would probably entail removal of the camshaft and timing belt to get at the lifters and then retime the engine. (moderately complex).

You should research into what design the 2.2 has or obtain the hayes repair manual before you proceed. If you remove the valve cover to inspect or repair, replace with a new gasket seal.

Hand tools are all you should need. When you close it up afterwards you might want to replace the gasket depending on its condition, and use sealant on it before you put the cover back on. I've heard of people pulling valve covers and using the same gaskets and no new sealant and they didn't have problems, but I would be weary of doing it like that.

When we did the head gasket on my 2.2 we used all new gaskets except for the exhaust manifold gasket because we couldn't get it in time, so we had to use the old one over again. Every time the number one cylinder fires it makes a clicking sound from a small leak, like the sound leaking headers make I guess. The other three are silent though. Not too bad. Maybe that's the ticking sound you're hearing too?