car not turning over, help please

[stckmojop]

ok i have a 1991 talon tsi and tonight when i started it up there was a constant knocking noise coming from the right side of the engine around the cams, or maybe a bit below.. it had a pattern like this.. knock knock...........knock and would increase at the same rate when i gave it gas. I checked my logger and had no knock and wasn't throwing any codes. I turned it off and tried to start it and now the car won't start. When i try to turn it over i'm just getting a noise like a RC car when it's running. It sounds like my the motor in the starter is just spinning or something to that effect. Does anybody have the slightest clue what this might be?
I'm not sure if this will help or not but somehow my car skipped a few teeth on the timing belt and the crank was at least 4 teeth off and the oil pump was almost at the exact opposite point that it should have been. I stripped everything off and redid the timing and everything seemed to run perfectly until now. Any ideas?

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

Drivers side or passengers side? I assume you mean right side when you are facing the motor, but you could mean when you are in the car too.
I am having a hard time putting the two sounds together into one problem.
your starter could have come loose or fallen out causing the starting problem, the starter could have also died so it won't engage with the flywheel. This would explain the sound when you try to start it but I don't see it causing a bad knocking sound unless it was rattleing against the block or something either way this shouldnt be a big problem. You can look under your intake manifold to see if there is any thing suspicious with the starter.

This knocking on the other hand could be a big problem.
Is it metal on metal? if so does it sound like heavy metal on heavy metal? I heard it best described as someone pounding on the inside of the block with a big hammer.
Or is it a light metal sound? More like pounding on sheet metal. I wouldn't recomend starting or driving your car untill you figure this out. Of course I guess you won't since it won't start.

 

[stckmojop]

i got it to start last night before it crapped out. It's just a somewhat medium metal to metal sound coming from the drivers side of the bay right around the head under the cam pullys. I went out today and tapped on my starter and it sounds like somethings rattling... when i tried starting it i got a half ass turn over but it failed to move the timing marks.. i kinda assume part of the problem is my starter. the car has 130,000 miles on it so it was bound to go bad i guess. i'm just nervous about the knock.. it's never good when it's in a constant pattern.

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

Did the sound start all of a sudden? How long ago?
I killed a rod bearing and that kind of sound was one of the later sounds but first it just sounded like the lifter tick was getting worse, then it started getting louder under neutral acclereation, then after a while it started knocking pretty bad. I am not an expert or wiseman but I have a hard time seeing something like that happening over night with no progression to getting worse.

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

Does it sound like one knock per revolution?
I would probably start with taking off the valve cover just to make sure nothing looks unusual. I can't think of what would make that sound in the timing belt cover but I would probably take that off and look in there since it is close to the sound and about the next easiest thing to check, check the timing while it's apart.
One other thought even though it seems like a long shot. If your harmonic balancer died I could see it wedging itself at an angle and possibly hitting the block every time it goes around. Take it off, if it is totaly dead it should be easy to see. Inspect the rubber in the middle and see if it all seems healthy.
If you can get it running I wouldn't run it more than seconds but if you get a mechanics stethascope it might help you narrow down the source of the sound.