What did my son do?!

[Derka]

Ok so we have a 95 talon esi, with the 420A. It has 283k on the miles. We bought it with a broken valve. Fixed the valve and thing runs like a dream! Until.........it leaks some oil and he was supposed to keep an eye on it.....He didn't. So the other day he says hey, the car is running funny and the oil light is on. (keep in mind he drove it for approx 20 min after this) So i start her up, it knocks....i check the oil and it is 3 quarts low! Fill her up and no knock...ok good. No, not good. I drive it and it has lost alot of high end power....then starts knocking again but not as loud. So we take the top end apart. The cams and journals have some marring on them i am assuming from the low oil. Everything else seems to be ok. I cannot tell where the knock was coming from! I drained the oil and no shavings were in it. We will be replacing the oil pan/seal next. What else could cause the knock and the loss of upper end power. Starts with no issues.....any help would be awesome guys.
Thanks ahead of time!
Derek

 

[dsmcrzy]

It it was that low on oil and is showing some wear on the cam journals then the chances are there is some wear on the rod or main bearings as well. When you have the oil pan off check the rods and see if there is any play in them.

 

[Derka]

I will do that. I hope not. I really do not want to rebuild this thing. Its only a $550 car! But he loves the thing.

 

[dsmcrzy]

I would be surprised if there wasn't a lot of damage. If it was 3 quarts low then the oil pan didn't have a lot in it to begin with (less that 2 quarts). I'm not sure how much oil runs through the block but I'm willing to bet there was very little oil in the pan when it was running esp since the pick up doesn't sit on the bottom of the pan.

You could always go to the junk yard and grab a used engine.

 

[Derka]

That is an idea. It would prob be cheaper than rebuilding this one!

 

[dustyboner]

pull the #2 rod cap, #2 rod bearing is usually the one that will go 1st

 

[Derka]

Awesome! Thank you sir. I will check it out when we pull the pan.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

So i was doing pulls on the highway and my oil filter backed off, had to drive 10 mins to the next exit... Was knocking like you said, cam journal destroyed the head, rod bearings showed wear. I'm down for a full rebuild now. Your son is most likely in the same boat.

For what it's worth, #3 rod cap showed most wear, and the thrust bearing had some wear as well. Crank was still good though.

 

[JusMX141]

What did my son do?!

Blew up the car and ruined all your hard work....little bastard.

( )

 

[Derka]

So true!

 

[1gAWD_tech]

im in same boat, i had a small leak in my car at first but i did keep it topped off with oil. somehow still i lost oil pressure im thinking through my oil filter adaptor, and when my car started knocking i had maybe 5 min till the rod bearings were cooked. im still trying to find a cheapest way to go about it

 

[EvilGST]

Not to be harsh but if he loved it so much he would have checked the oil often knowing it had a leak. But of course this is how we learn. at least the car was cheap and now he might learn how to rebuild it.

 

[OGDSM1989]

This is a learning experience for both father and son ..... father learns that son needs some auto maintence lessons, and son learns that dad isnt being a stickler for wanting him to check the oil every now and again.

Dad go ahead take your sweet time rebuilding the motor .... make the lesson hit home real good. Auto maintence is no joke, with out there is no auto cruisin with the ladies ....

 

[JFPryde]

Cars always have a way of teaching young people life lessons. I bought a BMW while stationed in Germany when I was 18 and didn't check the oil when I bought it. I now have the connecting rod mounted on my wall of memories (Really).

I'm in the same boat as you now though. I two Talons with spun rod bearings. Murphy is a son of a @&*(^@.