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Sudden loss of power, loud ticking noise - help!

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tdykes1234

Proven Member
70
0
Feb 12, 2013
Columbus, Indiana
Ok, so I was driving home this evening and had a serious motor issue occur! I left a stop sign, easily shifted 1st to 2nd, then 2nd to 3rd. Just as I was about to go to 4th...I felt something give in the motor, my oil pressure dropped from the midpoint between the two lines to the bottom line, my rpm`s dropped, I was no longer making boost, and the car felt sluggish. I pulled back to my Uncle`s house and noticed a loud ticking noise from up top toward the back of the head...I checked the timing belt and it was fine! So here are the symptoms...oil pressure has dropped some, engine won`t rev over 2k under load nor was I trying to at the point, will not go more than .5lb of boost, and car dies at every stop...any ideas here
 
Well from the symptoms I would probably do a compression test due to the oil pressure dropping also sounds like some lifters are starved of oil. so I would also check to sure you have enough oil in your car. but sounds like the motor is trying to let go make sure before you spend any money on it that you do that compression test to make sure you have life in the motor if the compressions come back low or a a dead cylinder then you know its gonna be a total rebuild. let me know what you find hopefully your compression comes back good and its just the top end lifters damage and maybe cams.
 
I checked the belt and everything is ok that I can see is ok. I did lose some oil pressure but not a whole lot. The engines feels like it is straining to reach the 2k rpm mark, I don`t have the tools to do a test like that, but what would explain the loud tick from up top...could I have broke a rocker, thus not allowing the valves to open or shut properly. Or could it be one of the balance shafts
 
if timing was to far off wouldn't run and if the belt snaped you would not be going anywhere so i would lean towards internal motor problems or like said above check all the hoses to make sure you have no major leaks but im thinking its a motor problem.

autozone has a compression tester its a pretty simple thing and its possible that your having valve problems. ticking is usually lifter tap and can cause hp loss but not that much something is seriously wrong. the reason i say do compression test is that my friend had a dead cylinder would not idle and every time you stoped it would die we could not even put it on the lift and was making a terrible tapping sound was a dead cylinder. just going off personal experiences.
 
Much thanks to Ludachris and my apologies to JusMX141. Update on my car....I removed the valve cover and found one of the metal nubs that are located in various places on the back of the valve cover had been knocked off and was laying in the head between cylinders 1 & 2! I removed that and then bumped the engine over with the starter to watch the valves. To my knowledge, all the valves opened and shut the same. Next thing I did was remove the oil. I found VERY VERY minimal amounts of shavings in the bottom of the oil collector. I plan on pulling the pan and checking the belts tomorrow. Any tips or advice on where to go from here would be much appreciated! Thanks guys!!!
 
Well, guys...it was the balance shaft belt that broke! We got everything back into time and fired it up...appears to be running fine. I can hear a little belt noise but I don't know if that is because I have a belt too tight or if it's because the top cover is off. Any ideas here?
 
I would do a BSE if I were you. U got very lucky that u did not do any serious damage. Why risk it again?-

^^^ +1

Balance Shaft Elimination for the win. If you want the most reliability, power & most of all "financial insurance" out of your motor, the BSE is the only way to go and it isn't really all that complicated to do. There are plenty of user friendly videos on YouTube that will walk you through it if necessary. Glad to see that the problem is panning out, good luck.
 
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