Alright... I will start from the beginning. Bought a '97 2.2L Cavy with a busted timing chain. Replaced that and the head gasket (removed head to check valves, they were fine). Car had a slight tick but didnt worry about it and the oil pressure light would come on at idle and go away under acceleration. Had to accelerate quickly to get into a small hole in traffic and car started to tick bad from the top end. Removed valve cover and the #2 cylinder had a rocker extremely loose, but the nut was tight. Pulled the head again and this time pulled the lifters... The lifter for that valve/rocker was TOAST. I was hoping this would solve the noisy engine problems... Well it didnt.

So now, I know the lifter was bad, and I replaced all 8. Everything appears fine, but when I start it up it is still pretty loud on the top end, if I rev it up to about 2,500 rpms the engine sounds smooth and normal, but as soon as the revs drop again, right at about 2000 rpm the tick/rattling comes back again. I removed the valve cover and it appears that the 5th rocker over is getting tons of oil, but non of the other rockers seem to be getting that much, if not any oil. What could be causing this... The lifters should have primed/pumped by now shouldnt that (after about 5 minutes of running/revving)??? What is causin my problems.???



1998 Buick Regal GS
Best time, 90* humid summer day: 14.1 @ 96.8

Did you put in a new chain and tensioner?? Aftermarket chain and tentioners are junk.

Dxray wrote:Did you put in a new chain and tensioner?? Aftermarket chain and tentioners are junk.

Timing chain and tensioner and brand new OEM/GM parts. All parts I have put in have been OEM (lifters, head gasket, timing chain, tensioner, rocker arm stud, gaskets).


Update: Pulled the oil pan last night, nothing that I didnt expect. There were a few pieces of the timing tensioner, not a lot. The needle bearing and some pieces of the lifter that was fried, and that was it. No misc parts I couldnt identify... The oil pick up did not appear to be clogged, there was like nothing stuck to the screen at all... So am I to assume oil pump???


1998 Buick Regal GS
Best time, 90* humid summer day: 14.1 @ 96.8

WOW! How many miles on that engine? Sounds like those before you really beat the #&@#%! out of it. Either that, or you got a 'bad' engine. GM stuff seems to be real good or real bad most of the time. I've 182K on my '96 2.2. Oil and water pump replaced at 100K miles, aftermarket roller tip rockers (still have the OE ones), and the lifters are still OE. I'm hoping I'm not gonna have happen to mine that happened to yours!

Were the peices from the old tensioner or the new one?? When i swaped out the pos aftermarket one for the gm one i covered the tentioner and chain with lucas oil treatment. Been fine since.

Well Ben98GS, If youre oil lights appears to be on, I would guess youre oil pump is slowly gonna wornout as well. It sounds like youre enegine has a bit of miles on it?.

Engine has 168,000 I think (either that or 158,000...) And the tensioner pieces are from the old tensioner... I got all the pieces out I could grab from the cover when I had it off, these are just the pieces that were in the very bottom of the pan.

Dart, I dont know if they really "beat the @!#$" out of it more than, did not know or care about routine maintainance. The cylinders and bottom end look fine and probably have tons of life left, I just want to get rid of this damn ticking... lol

I figure with that many miles I mights as well replace the pump.... I hope this takes care of the problem because I am getting tired of tearing apart this car... lol

I will give an update after I put the pump in.


1998 Buick Regal GS
Best time, 90* humid summer day: 14.1 @ 96.8

Well.... pump is in and it was not the problem... Stick have a damn ticking sound. I let it get up to operating temperature too and the oil pressure light still comes on as well.

Any clue as to why the oil pressure light would come on when the car is heated up even though the pick up isnt clogged and the oil pump is brand new???

Anyone have any suggestions on what to look for next??? I kinda checked the rod bearing and everything APPEARED alright... Might just got ahead and replace those now as well...


1998 Buick Regal GS
Best time, 90* humid summer day: 14.1 @ 96.8

You aware of the piston slap issue with 2.2s? Mine has it, but never in a severe way. I only notice it when the engine is still cold, a little longer in winter. Otherwise, any ticking seems to be the injectors clicking happily away.

I had a similar situation, tensioner self destructing in an ln2. It sounds to of like you may have a blockage in one of your oil passages... Not a good thing. When i bought mine it had a seized engine, had to replace the crank, cam, all pistons, lifters, chain tensioner, oil pump and screen, etc... You see where i'm going with this? May not be a very good idea to rev the engine...


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Oh ya i forgot to mention. I noticed on my car the the injectors make a ticking sound. I'v heard the same sound from a few 2.2 and i guess it's normal. Take a long screw driver and put one end on an injector and the handle to your ear. You should hear then ticking quite well.

If I had a camera I would take video/sound of the ticking... I think I have found posts referencing my problems that seem to point to a bad main bearing. Which would make a LOT of sense at this point... I will tear it back down this week (I have a Honda I have to get running too... Bought it with a blown head gasket and it had been overheated so much that the plastic timing chain cover melted and literally split the sleeve in the block)... I will update this in a few days... maybe with pics, if I can find out what is wrong with it.

Ben


1998 Buick Regal GS
Best time, 90* humid summer day: 14.1 @ 96.8

Well, took the caps off the crank and yeah... The main bearings are toast. I will try and get pics up. First one I pulled showed SOME signs of wear, but nothing major, second and third one were gouged and worn to hell. Will be pulling the crank out and getting it machined. Motor should be out of the car by the end of the week and hopefully back into it by next week.


1998 Buick Regal GS
Best time, 90* humid summer day: 14.1 @ 96.8