Engine knock - Maintenance and Repair Forum
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So I hear this weird noise after using my car for a while:
http://dc173.4shared.com/download/166958178/c220a7b/01_online.wmv?tsid=20091206-210923-9e8c9382
When I change the oil the noise goes away, but as the oil gets older the noise comes back. It can only be heard when the engine is iddle, if I press a little bit the gas it goes away and if I turn a little bit the steering wheel it goes away too..
Could this be a lubrication problem? I'm using Esso 10w40 oil right now and the car is not giving me any other problems..
Forgot to tell you it is a 99 Sunfire
Man what does your oil look like when you change it?
That isn't a healthy noise at all.
blue02zee24 wrote:Man what does your oil look like when you change it?
That isn't a healthy noise at all.
Well, to be honest I've not looked at the oil when I change it since I take it to a service center to do that for me but when I check the oil level it is ok and the oil looks clean
I have a question, Does youre motor make that sound while the gas peddle is beening pressed?. How many miles on the motor?
I think youre motor is on it last legs of life.
Sorry to hear about that.
Good Luck.
rich weeks wrote:I have a question, Does youre motor make that sound while the gas peddle is beening pressed?. How many miles on the motor?
I think youre motor is on it last legs of life.
Sorry to hear about that.
Good Luck.
No, the noise goes away when the press the gas even if I press it only a little bit.. Also the noise goes away when I turn the steering wheel even if I'm not pressing the gas.
I think the noise could be worse in the video than it actually is, the camera was very close to the engine, it's not that bad, it is also worse when you hear an engine which its chain tensor is not working.. The car runs great and doesn't make any noise or anything (Only this one when the engine is iddle and hot)..
If something were broken inside the engine I would see dirty oil, the engine would burn oil and make noises while running, also the car wouldn't be running well and I would notice these or other symptoms, right?
Also, how come the noise go away when I turn the steering wheel and when I press the gas?
When the oil is new the noise goes away for a while too.. and even when the oil is old the noise only comes until the car is driven for a while..
Try getting a long screwdriver, put the handle to your ear and the metal part to different things in the engine bay. Try to find where the sound is loudest. Just watch out for moving parts...
Checking the oil next time it is drained is not a bad idea either. Even if you don't do the oil change, just ask whoever does to pay attention to anything they see in the oil.
"the noise goes away when I turn the steering wheel even if I'm not pressing the gas......"
I suspect something....maybe it's only a coincidence that the knock occurs when the
oil is dirty.
What I'm wondering, could the engine be loose in the motor or transmission mounts ?
It would cost very little for your mechanic to check out this possibility.
I have seen this phenomenon before.
Engine makes a horrid knock at idle that goes away when the wheel is turned even slightly....
Does the knock speed up with the engine? (Sorry I can't visit your link while I'm at work)...
The issue ended up being a bad tensioner. Turning the wheel seemed to put a load on the cam and make the noise go away. A new tensioner and guides and the car was dead silent until the day it was written off 2 years later.
The sound ended up being chain slap from a loose tensioner, and was very audible high up in the timing chain case.
Good luck I hope you find your issue
-Chris-
-Sweetness-
-Turbocharged-
Slowly but surely may some day win this race...
I'm not sure that it can be the chain tensioner because I already had that problem since at the time I bought the car it had an oil leakage from the valve covers so I had to replace the gaskets and also I replaced the chain, guides, tensioner.. At the time the mechanic closed the engine it had a terrible sound and it was a non working tensioner so he opened up the engine again and pre-loaded the tensioner with oil and the sound went away and the new sound (The one we're talking about came alive haha). I've been discussing this issue with some people, including mechanics, and we're pretty sure the sound comes from the valve lifters cause they were probably placed in the differente locations than they were originally in at the time the engine was closed. What do you think?
Thanks for you replies guys
OK, the sound is coming from the intake valve lifters.. The reason why the sound goes away when turning the steering wheel is because the power steering pump is moved by the camshaft so when I turn the steering wheel it puts a pressure on the intake valve lifters and they get to work.. Same thing that happens when the gas pedal is pressed..
Also, the reason why the sound comes when the engine is hot seems to be that the oil viscocity for high temps is to high for the car (40 while recommended is 30) so the valve lifters are not properly filled with oil at high temps while they do get properly filled when cold.
So what I'm going to do is to use an Engine Flush adivitive next time I change my oil so I get any dirt removed from my engine oil paths and after that I'm going to swap from a 10w40 semi-synthetic Esso oil to a 10w30 100% synthetic Mobil 1 oil and hopefully that would make the sound go away.
you have a 2.4, get used to it until it's built with aftermarket parts lol
From my experiences it's either a wrist pin, timing chain issue or lifters ticking.
If you ever take the valve cover off you can have the pre-load on the lifters checked - its a bit more difficult when they have oil in them but it can be done.
BTW - how many miles do you have? You're using different oil viscositys etc, I'm wondering if your oil pump is reaching its internal wear limits and starting to drop some pressure.
Problem solved.
The noise was coming from the timing chain since the chain tensioner is composed by a hydraulic piston that has a secondary piston which has to be reset when installed and the last time it was replaced the secondary piston was not reset..
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