Resolved Is this rod knock

[jamel16]

Good afternoon tuners, can someone tell me if this is rod knock. I just swapped my stock cams back in and it started making this noise.

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[dustyboner]

i couldn't tell from the video.

you can get a mechanics stethoscope for like $5 at harbor freight or $10- $15 everywhere else. makes it real easy to pinpoint where a sound is coming from.

 

[DSMPT]

Good afternoon tuners, can someone tell me if this is rod knock. I just swapped my stock cams back in and it started making this noise.

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Swapping cams wouldn't cause rod knock. So probably it's not rod knock if you didn't have this noise before swapping the cams. First, you should distinguish where the noise come from and inspect, especially something related to the cam swapping, such as valve train components, timing belt and the valve timing etc etc.
In case if it's very beginning of rod knock, you probably don't hear the noise when the oil is still cold (when the engine has high oil pressure) and the noise is getting louder in inverse proportion to the oil pressure. And then obviously getting worse day by day and never stop. If this sounds familiar, then maybe it's rod knock.

 

[Murdertalon]

That could be your lifters, mine tick and make all sort of stupid sounds until they get good oil flow and warm up. Did you properly bleed lifters when you swapped cams? Also my lifters made worse noise after some miles and probably cycling dirty oil. I keep on top of oil changes but I did drive my car for a little while with blown out turbo seals and my oil became rather dirty, seemed to wake up the stupid valve noise. The only real difference I could tell with rev.3 lifters is larger oil flow holes that likely are harder to get fouled.

One other thing, I took off my clear hks timing cover because it kept rubbing on the cam gears, you may have a contact point on that damn cover

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I suspect the same as @Murdertalon , take your upper timing cover off and see if the noise is still there. That is what it sounds like to me.

 

[92AWDHX40]

I had lifter tick doesnt sound like a tick to me, but something rubbing in there on the timing side.

 

[my98gsx]

I agree with iugrad92turbo - sounds like something hitting the timing cover to me. Definitely not rod knock.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

With aftermarket timing gears, sometimes the bolts will contact the cover. Even the smaller outside bolts for adjustable gears is sometimes an issue so I resolved that by spacing out the lower covers TOP CENTER BOLT HOLE by adding washers to the backside of it, which will hold the upper cover out and away from even the small, adjusting bolts (in MOST cases). The new AEM gears are the thickest and that is why I had to mod mine to clear the top cover and not have any bolts rubbing or touching. For the center, mine are ARP bolts, I had to make a hole in my cover just for them, so I have ran into this issue recently during my rebuild. For those center holes, I used a step bit and it kept it lubricated so it didn't crack the acrylic. Work slow for best results.
Here is what I did -

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[92AWDHX40]

Damn nice man as im going to get a zakelee cover down the road , i should do this now but ill wait. Nice write up marty. :Look at you came along way since we met i remember you asking for my help . you golden man.

 

[DSMPT]

My old cam gear cover. Intake cam gear was rubbing the cover and was making nice noise.

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[Murdertalon]

Personal pref, but I don't run any timing covers anymore after having one shred my alternator belt and then the upper ones rubbing on cam gears. I could have spent the time and got new covers and clearance them out ect but I have had no issues after deciding not to run any covers. I briefly looked for replacements and couldn't find any to order. It would be super dope if someone could 3D print a cover that bolts on without any pulley removal.

 

[jamel16]

First thank you all for the responses and advice. I figured out the problem. When I reinstalled the cams, I didn’t have the cam seals fully seated, which caused the cam gears to rub and wobble. Good thing this was caught because it started backing out the cam bolts.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Good deal i didnt think it was anything like rod knock, .