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2G Slight knock at idle (Solved)

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VivaLaOC

Proven Member
121
25
Mar 16, 2021
La Grande, Oregon
The other day when I was driving I came to a stop after driving on the freeway and was in neutral and ebrake was on and I started to hear a knock like sound almost like a belt smacking somewhere I thought the timing belt was loose but I checked on it and got it to TDC and it was tight and timing marks were perfect. I'm still hearing the knock though and I noticed oil pressure was somewhat low but my oil pressure wiring isn't the best either so it could be that too. I'm gonna do an oil change tomorrow and see what its looking like, I just really hope I didn't spin a bearing, but I also don't run anything over stock boost and as far as I know everything internally engine wise is stock. The only things I've done is master and slave cylinder, aftermarket boost guage and an MBC but its set at stock boost I got them and installed those two things I have a FPR and 255lph fuel pump that aren't installed.
 
Personally i would inspect the balance shaft belt hehind the timing belt. Your balance shaft could be out of phase or the belt is severely damaged. If it's loose i would remove and replace because its wore out and can break and take out your primary timing belt in the process.
This is merely speculation I have no idea how your issue sounds but from your description i would say its worth a look. The purpose of that shaft is to cut down on engine movement, out of time it would make it shutter a lot.when was your last timing belt change?
 
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Personally i would inspect the balance shaft belt hehind the timing belt. Your balance shaft could be out of phase or the belt is severely damaged. If it's loose i would remove and replace because its wore out and can break and take out your primary timing belt in the process.
This is merely speculation I have no idea how your issue sounds but from your description i would say its worth a look. The purpose of that shaft is to cut down on engine movement, out of time it would make it shutter a lot.when was your last timing belt change?
I don't know when the timing belt or anything was done last but ill definitely check the belt because it wouldn't surprise me if that ones going out now the wp-alt one went out awhile back
 
Personally i would inspect the balance shaft belt hehind the timing belt. Your balance shaft could be out of phase or the belt is severely damaged. If it's loose i would remove and replace because its wore out and can break and take out your primary timing belt in the process.
This is merely speculation I have no idea how your issue sounds but from your description i would say its worth a look. The purpose of that shaft is to cut down on engine movement, out of time it would make it shutter a lot.when was your last timing belt change?
Oil looked fine, dirty but no flakes thankfully. I'm thinking you might be onto something with the balance shaft belt idea. I'll check it out more tomorrow and hopefully it is that because id much rather be doing the balance shaft belt than the timing belt and then the wp and tensioner because it took out the t belt
 
Oil looked fine, dirty but no flakes thankfully. I'm thinking you might be onto something with the balance shaft belt idea. I'll check it out more tomorrow and hopefully it is that because id much rather be doing the balance shaft belt than the timing belt and then the wp and tensioner because it took out the t belt
I'm not sure you have a good grasp of everything discussed. How did you check tension and not see the balance shaft belt? If you do need a balance shaft belt then you are doing a timing belt also. If tbelt gets messed up because of balance belt or any reason you aren't changing a water pump and tensioner. You're changing a cylinder head. Water pump and tensioner do not fail because a timing belt issue. For maintenance purposes if you're changing a belt because it's due then it's good to replace it all.
If you're not sure please ask. Your statements do not coincide with mode of failure.
 
I'm not sure you have a good grasp of everything discussed. How did you check tension and not see the balance shaft belt? If you do need a balance shaft belt then you are doing a timing belt also. If tbelt gets messed up because of balance belt or any reason you aren't changing a water pump and tensioner. You're changing a cylinder head. Water pump and tensioner do not fail because a timing belt issue. For maintenance purposes if you're changing a belt because it's due then it's good to replace it all.
If you're not sure please ask. Your statements do not coincide with mode of failure.
I pulled the fuel pump relay and cranked the car that way because I didn't have the time to take the inside cover off that's by the wheel well, I was just making sure the belt wasn't as loose as it was when I initially pressed down on the t belt with the crank in the previous position I was checking for overall belt tension not the tensioner itself. The car is still on jacks right now so I don't have to go through jacking the car up and taking the wheel off again when I work on it tomorrow, I'm gonna fill it with oil and start it tomorrow and see if the noise changed/changes at all. If not then ill be going more in depth and pulling the cover motor mount and all the fun stuff on the timing side.
 
I pulled the fuel pump relay and cranked the car that way because I didn't have the time to take the inside cover off that's by the wheel well, I was just making sure the belt wasn't as loose as it was when I initially pressed down on the t belt with the crank in the previous position I was checking for overall belt tension not the tensioner itself. The car is still on jacks right now so I don't have to go through jacking the car up and taking the wheel off again when I work on it tomorrow, I'm gonna fill it with oil and start it tomorrow and see if the noise changed/changes at all. If not then ill be going more in depth and pulling the cover motor mount and all the fun stuff on the timing side.
Well then the question remains. You do not know if tension is correct.
 
I'm am truly not trying to be testy here. However you have been told 3 times how to check tension and then you reported tension is good. NO. That's now how it works. You must remove the covers. There is no other way.
 
Well then the question remains. You do not know if tension is correc

I'm am truly not trying to be testy here. However you have been told 3 times how to check tension and then you reported tension is good. NO. That's now how it works. You must remove the covers. There is no other way.
I just wanted to make sure it wasn't slapping the timing cover is all thats what I meant when I said tension, I've seen 2gs that have t belts that are so loose they almost fall off at idle, I understand what you mean/meant and you must have misunderstood exactly what I was trying to explain, I just wanted to know if the belt was loose enough to slap and cause the knocking sound I heard that's all
 
Knocking sound could be balance shafts, belts, harmonic balancer failing. Were there any issues leading up to this? Is the knocking rpm related? Can you tell if it's faster like valvetrain related? Did you fix you oil pressure sensor wire?
 
Knocking sound could be balance shafts, belts, harmonic balancer failing. Were there any issues leading up to this? Is the knocking rpm related? Can you tell if it's faster like valvetrain related? Did you fix you oil pressure sensor wire?
OPS wire is fine, I just need to get a whole new plug for it, and no. There were no issues leading up to this, there was one time where the belt squealed for a moment then stopped but that happened one time and one time only. Knocking is NOT Rpm related thankfully. It knocks but not to the extent I'd suspect rod knock hence my earlier comment. It's not constant and it doesn't continuously knock, it's kind of intermittent. Knocks then stops then knocks a little while after I'd guess about every 8-12 seconds? Which lead me to believe it was a belt issue somewhere I couldn't quite see, the sound comes from the timing side but doesn't sound like it's in the head or a rod knocking.
 
Knocking sound could be balance shafts, belts, harmonic balancer failing. Were there any issues leading up to this? Is the knocking rpm related? Can you tell if it's faster like valvetrain related? Did you fix you oil pressure sensor wire?
To be 100% Honest I'm pretty certain it's between the balance shaft belt and harmonic balancer is separated
 

Check the balancer
Tomorrow evening I'll check it out after work, you think there's a chance the balancer separated and that's where the knocking is coming from? My brother had a 420a 2ga and the balancer had completely split in half but was still in place and looked completely normal.
 
Yes I'll post one when I get home
Good deal that will really shed some light and help us give you a hand. Like pauleyman man was saying there are a huge list of culprits that could potentially be your problem. A good quality video would definitely be a good next step to finding a solution. 👍 Keep in mind though there will more than likely be some disassembly required as the parts in question are buried under covers and can't be seen to make the proper diagnosis.
 
👍. I was at a stop when I noticed the battery light came one. Got it home and it did a lot of damage. Chewed up the timing cover. Piece of the timing cover got under the tbelt and damaged the tbelt as well. Also jumped timing.
 
Glad you got it solved. Good call on not starting again. I personally haven't experienced this one so gives me something to think about going forward to watch out for. About how often do the harmonic balancers go bad on our engines?
 
Glad you got it solved. Good call on not starting again. I personally haven't experienced this one so gives me something to think about going forward to watch out for. About how often do the harmonic balancers go bad on our engines?
Not very often really, its just because this one is the original which means it has 266k miles LOL
 
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