Loud Knock (Rattle) From Valve Cover Vicinity!!!!!!!

[Spln_Hrd]

This started after a 3rd gear pull to 7k. The noise slowly got more intense and now its present even at idle. I have driven about 10 miles since this all started.

1. The car will stall when taken out of gear
2. Compression is 153 143 148 159
3. Lifters are all ok
4. When I remove plug wires the knock (rattle) is still present
5. Timing marks are all ok
6. Oil pan is off as of midnight last night so I haven't gotten to thoroughly inspect bottom end, however there were no bearings or large shaving in the oil pan.

When I drained the oil though I noticed very very small silver pieces of something in the oil. The were hardly noticable and not too much of it maybe a dozen or so were even noticed.

Balance shafts are still in the car.

 

[Spln_Hrd]

1. This rattle is present whether or not the car is at operating temperature

2. And is much louder and somewhat more frequent at higher rpms

3. This knock or rattle is very consistent it doesn't ever stop and occurs 1-2 per second very steady.

The best way I can describe it is 2 marbles shook in a small wooden box.

 

[squeak104]

Sounds like rod knock. Since the pan is already off wiggle the rods and see any move. If they move at all chances are you spun a bearing. Good luck.

 

[andymoraitis]

Pan shavings would indicate trashed bearings, but what I find strange is that when you pull a plug wire and take a load off the piston, the noise continues and that's not consistent with rod knock unless more than one bearing has been wrecked. What you can try to see if it's a collapsed lifter is to remove the valve cover and see if you can press any of your lifters down with your finger. If any of them push down with finger pressure, they're collapsed and need to be replaced.

I hope this is your problem. Just for kicks, make sure you take a look at your crank pulley/harmonic balancer to make sure it isn't cracked as this is something that can contribute to bearing failure from the vibration of being out of round.

Good luck and let us know what you find,

Andy

 

[cHz]

Sounds veryyyy similar to my problem I had. I had this nice, long, straight backroad while I was delivering food, so I figured I'd just have some fun. I start off good, 1st gear - shift at about 6000rpms and as I go into 2nd, I try pressing the gas and it goes down, but the car had died. All my lights came on(check engine, oil, ALL of them) and then it started making this LOUD knocking noise and as I went faster, it got louder and faster. Needless to say, it's in the garage now getting a new engine. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong with the engine though. : (

 

[squeak104]

Not to contradict you or anything Andy but its happened to me. When my rod bearing spun and I pulled plugs the noise didn't change at all. Made diagnosing a pain till we finally pulled the pan.

 

[andymoraitis]

No worries Squeak. That's why I threw in the disclaimer that it could be more than one bearing which means it would still make the noise on other cylinders even though one plug at a time was pulled.

Jeez I hate hearing about stuff like this considering I'm still waiting for the machine shop to finish mine from the same issue.

Andy