engine knocking....

[ltdcrwnvic]

whats up everyone, been a long time but here i am....last time i posted was a few months ago when an idiot ran a stop sign and T-Boned me perfectly.

heres the problem...car has been moved 2 or 3 times a month do to a short it had. it was fixed and as i started to drive it again, about 30mins into driving the car, the engine started knocking....i figured the oil had turned into sludge with all those months sitting there in the cold temps and no oil getting into the rest of the engine so i changed the oil and filter. knocking disappeared for about 1 day but now is knocking again. here are the symptoms:

-theres no stalling whatsoever,
-car runs fine, when on idle, it idles fine,
-knocking of course gets louder when i accelerate,
-red engine light flickers for a few minutes during driving, and finally stays on right before engine begins to knock which usually takes about 30 to 45 minutes into driving right after i turn it on.
-sounds louder from the driver side of the engine, could even be heard underneath the car,
-theres no drop in power, if i accelerate, the car responds perfectly,

i took it to my mechanic and he ran a diagnostics and the egr and tps sensors came up....he switched em out and the knocking is still there. he finally heard it in person and said it was a bad rod...my buddy and i think it might be a shitty lifter. what do you guys think?

[marquisman]

if your engine light of death is comming on, id say you have an oil pressure issue. why? there are a few reasons

[gadget73]

oil light is usually rod or main bearing problems. If you want to confirm it, hook up a timing light. Two knocks per flash is bottom end, one knock per flash is valvetrain. Oil light behavior really makes me lean towards worn bottom end parts though.

[marquisman]

perfect opertunity for a performance upgrade!

[ltdcrwnvic]

funny thing u mentioned that marquisman....im looking at some gt40 heads...some 1.7 roller rockers(possibly 1.6 but i dont want to mess with the cam right now, unless this issue turns out to be the bearings like gadget mentioned, then ill get a B-cam and the 1.6 rockers), of course the push rods, lifters, ive also got a HO upper and lower intake laying around somewhere that i could throw on if i have some time...besides the problem at hand and the throttle cable linkage....i think its time for an upgrade....what else do you guys recommend?

i already have bbk headers on it, full 2.5" custom exhaust(h-pipe), no cats, dual flowmaster super 40's, and a set of 3.55's waiting to go on in the rear.....

i really hope its a lifter, rod, valve, even a spring...i can fix that, just not the bearings...

[Lincolnmania]

oil light means bottom end problems

[gadget73]

If its got bearing problems, honestly its a better value to just swap in a whole fresh engine vs rebuilding the bottom end and then changing the heads. The engine really ought to come out to do the bottom end stuff. Once you do the bottom end and the heads, you've got almost a fresh engine, but it still has crappy pistons and old rings. For all that you can just pick up an HO shortblock and put your heads on. That would give you a solid bottom end and the better pistons, and whatever top end you want.

[ltdcrwnvic]

copy that......for the mean time i started to dismantle the upper and lower intakes...for now imma call it a day...ill keep you guys posted and of course, i know how much you guys love pics....ill post those up tomorrow....

[Smokestacklightnin]

Have you had the oil pressure checked? May just be the oil pump or plugged oil pickup. But if it is knocking, hope you havent driven it that way too much. If you havent driven it that way too much it may be okay. May check for metal in the oil.

[ltdcrwnvic]

here are the pics guys...let me know if you see anything out of the ordinary...

[ltdcrwnvic]

heres the rest...

[gadget73]

I see a motor that has seen very occasional oil changes, but otherwise nothing abnormal. Nothing in any of those pictures will make the engine lose oil pressure. All of that stuff is in the cam bearings or the main bearings.

[ltdcrwnvic]

bump...since im switching over to the HO upper...ive already switched the linkage on the throttle body to accommodate the ltd accel. and shift linkage. problem is, on the original/stock spacer there are two(2) holes on the back part of it to screw in and attach a plate that holds a couple of harnesses and also holds the throttle/shift linkage in place to simply hook up underneath the throttle body....and on the bigger spacer those 2 holes do not exist...
what do you guys recommend or what have guys done to accommodate and hold the throttle/shift linkage unit in place? heres a pic of what i mean...

i also still have the original spacer, dont really wanna have that one machined and bored out, but if i have to i will....thing is its pretty beat up, and well im having a hell of a time trying to take it off from the upper plenum lol....

[gadget73]

The usual fix is machine out the stock spacer, or get another stock spacer thats not all messed up and have it bored out. You can make a bracket to fit up to the HO one to give you the throttle bracket mounting points tho. I've seen some where people have drilled and tapped the spacer to attach a flat plate of metal to give the lower stock bracket mounting ear.

[PICKUP6772]

The only thing out of the ordinary I see, is the the crappy 2G alternator is still in there.