After the advice of a so-called professional, I rebuilt the head of my 96's 2.2L engine. This was done to quiet down a noisy valve train, supposedly sticky lifter, burning oil at startup, and also to replace the aging timing chain. After all of that work when I started it up there was still a knocking/tapping noise which I had heard before. On the positive side the engine runs much better, has more power, and the valve train is quieter. But unfortunately the sound fits the description for bearing problems from what I've read.

I posted a video that I shot tonight on You Tube. Please take a minute and watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NGTv0zfA20 and let me know what you think the noise might be.

Thanks for the help!

Nobody has any observations? Although the sound appears to be coming from the top of the engine, I do not believe that it's lifter/valvetrain noise. Any suggestions?

Did you adjust your valves after the head work? I'm not familiar with the 2.2L, but I had to do that after rebuilding the head on my Toyota 4 banger.

Rob





Sold 2/2/05

Wild, crude, primitive guess is valve related. All rockers torqued right?

Id guess something is wrong under the valve cover as well... start the car with the cover orr and make sure all the rockers are moving and tight like they're supposed to be.

hehe just dont rev too much with it off. :p

i just did the head on my racecar and it made a similiar noise. It turned out the rocker nuts had loosened up. Tightened them down and it was all fixed.


-1995 Cavalier for dirt racing-
-1995 Sunfire for parts-
-1998 Dodge Durango for getting to the track-
-1997 Dodge Avenger for playing-

I'm still working on it, but what I've done so far is pull the valve cover and check the torque on the rocker arms. They all were within torque, hoever I noticed that 3 of them will wobble from side to side when you try to move them. I wonder if something is keeping those from proper torque. The remaining 5 have no play in them.

I did try to start it and for some reason the revs were higher than normal causing oil to fly everywhere. lol.. I wasn't able to get a good look at the valvetrain, but I'm gonna try again shortly.

Any suggestions?

Steve White wrote:I'm still working on it, but what I've done so far is pull the valve cover and check the torque on the rocker arms. They all were within torque, hoever I noticed that 3 of them will wobble from side to side when you try to move them. I wonder if something is keeping those from proper torque. The remaining 5 have no play in them.

I did try to start it and for some reason the revs were higher than normal causing oil to fly everywhere. lol.. I wasn't able to get a good look at the valvetrain, but I'm gonna try again shortly.

Any suggestions?

You did plug the pcv valve back in right? I forgot that when i took my valve cover off


My car--->http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2569452

Thanks 96! Yeah I reconnected everything. I think the reason for the high idle was that it was pissed off because I took the intake off while I had the valve cover off.

Anyhow, no dice... I couldn't observe any noticeable problems in the valve train bdid appear to be louder on the right side (#4 cylinder)... I couldn't get close enough with the way the oil was squirting out of the rocker arms. I used a long screwdriver as a stethoscope to try to track down the noise... While to the ear the noise was loudest in the front of the engine, using the screwdriver method I heard the tapping the loudest at the #4 intake port where the intake meets the head.

Could that mean a valve problem for that cylinder. Bad lifter there? Funny thing is that the lower end of the engine is much quieter when listeneing using the screwdriver.

What should I do next? Pull the head again and put in new lifters all around, or shall I fork out about $400 for a certified engine with 1 year warranty and 42k miles?

Thanks for the advice!

well my 2.2 was making the same noise last month and of course i still high reved it and it blew up the number 4 cylinder breaking and twisting the rod and shattering the bearing puting a hole in the block and in the oil pan so ied becareful of that number 4 cylinder

Stuck lifter sounds like to me. I know you said you had the head rebuilt, but the lifter is actually inside the engine if I remember right, and the noise is transmitted right up the pushrod.

I rebuilt the head myself actually. Took me nearly a week of evenings to do it, but I was very meticulous to ensure it was done right. While the head was off I pulled and inspected all of the lifters for wear. None of them were scored or showed signs of uneven wear. The rollers were smooth and rolled freely.

What I did notice however, was that the lifter guide bracket (known as anti-rotation bracket in some manuals) for cylinders 3 & 4 was partially melted on the top and front side. Not enough to interfere with the movement of the lifters, but enough that I decided to replace it.

I'm concerned if the sticking lifter has failed internally or is getting hung up in its bore. If it's the latter, I suspect it's much more serious, right?

I have a line on a 99 motor with 42k on it for $400 and 1 year parts warranty. Would it be worth it, or do you guys think it would be better to gamble about $160 on a full set of lifers and head gasket with hope that the lifter bore isn't damaged? How to you check the lifter bore?

Thanks for the help.

- Steve

i'd say go for the 99 engine. if it only has 42,000 on it you can't go wrong. hell i would buy it as a spare for that price.

while the car is running unplug a spark plug wire one at a time and see when the noice goes away

Pulled the plug wires one at a time and no change in the ticking noise. I guess that eliminated rod bearings. Looks like it's lifters.. I rechecked the pushrods and they're perfectly straight .

Adding to my aggravation is that I was misquoted on the price for replacement lifters. The cost is $19.77 each. So my question now is do I replace just the bad lifter? How do I tell which one is actually bad since I already checked them when I had them out the first time and couldn't tell any difference. Should I just replace all 8, or the two on the #4 cylinder? Or should I stick with the '99 engine and be done with it once and for all?

Thanks again.

Well man you have to think about it this way how many miles does your engine have? if its over 100k i would just get the 99 engine and be done with it hell then you could build your engine up.


My car--->http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2569452

Sorry to say, I think youre 2.2L engine is on its way out the door, If you keep running it, You will throw a rod through the block, I know you put alot of hard work and man hours rebuilding youre cyl head, I would go for that 99 motor for $400, Hope things work out for you.

Sorry to hear youre cars not working.


Good Luck.

Which cyl is number 4, because on my 02 I have a ticking noise coming from the passenger side, its on the firewall side, It sounds like a lifter and its been there since I got the car just about. If i remember correcty tho, Im thinking of cyl 1.

Bah, either way the car wont start so it has a bunch of time to think about blowing up on me. haha

I played around witha mechanics stethoscope and came to the conclusion that it had to be a lifter based on where the sound is coming from. So I pulled the head, checked the lifter bores, then put a new set in. I am not surprised that nothing changed, so it has to be a bearing of some kind. Probably a rod bearing I'll bet. I still have a line on the motor so I'll be looking to go that route. The reason I opted to try the lifter first is that the 99 motor did not have an EGR, and since mine does, I figured the computer would be pissed off.

I guess I'll try again.