Yet another noise puzzle... *sigh*

[KnightHawk434th]

Ok here is the deal. I had noise problems before and fixed them (they were all exhaust related) and my car has been running really well for the last few months. Had an idle prob and fixed that but other than that error free. Well today I was sitting at one of the local pizza joints in the parking lot and I heard a clicking coming from my engine. Usually happened in bursts of 3 or 4 with a slight pause in between. I limp my car home and pop my hood to attempt to find where the noise is coming from. Out of instinct, checked my oil and was a quart low, so I added some and the problem still there. The noise was coming from around the exhaust side of cylinder one and/or the cam gears up in the head. First thought...rocker slipped or is loose because in addition to the clicking, there is a swooshing noise that is pulsed. Well I call up a buddy to double-check my thoughts and he agreed so I took my car around back and took off the valve cover. Everything is tight and checked out fine, rotated the cams a bit and everything looked ok so I'm stumped.

Recap: a bursted clicking noise in the head around cylinder one/cam gears, pulsing swooshing noise in the same area and everything passed the visual test.

Please don't tell me I bent a valve...that is the only other logical thing I can think of besides a worn out part in the timing assembly. Maybe it's timing related since my gears make a whining noise when driving and just driving like that wore something out. I don't know, any ideas?

 

[92awddsm]

I would pull the timing cover and make sure the idler and/or tensioner pulleys/bearings havent started coming apart. Ive seen it happen 2 times on 2gn/t's.

 

[4UH8ERS]

I would pull the timing cover and make sure the idler and/or tensioner pulleys/bearings havent started coming apart. Ive seen it happen 2 times on 2gn/t's.

Agreed check in that timing cover and check those pulleys, a bent valve would give poor vacuum and bad compression in one of the cylinders. You wouldnt just have noise, but also poor idle and oil consumption.

 

[KnightHawk434th]

Well I think I may have found my problem. It was in the timing assembly as I suspected. Towed it to a local shop with our truck and started it up and had one of the mechanics there check it out. He had me rev it to around 2000 every so often so the sound would amplify and started probing everywhere with a stethoscope. He said when he was ON the water pump it was the loudest and the further out from that the sound diminished so it looks like my water pump may be failing. My question is, is it just possible I got a bad one or is something else causing premature failure (pump only has around 5000 miles on it)? Well nevertheless I'll be replacing that soon and hoping to get a hold of a hydraulic tensioner and pulley assembly and converting back from my mechanical. The mechanical one is just too much of a PITA to get the right tension, much more difficult that pulling a pin and viola. So looks like my water pump is going out, so I'm gonna start there with my repairs. Need to re-time my engine anyhow so this would be a good time to do it.