heyn guys, I have a 2.4L cavalier and i have a serious issue. The other day, i drove around, and i kept noticing my low oil light coming on when i make turns. ANyway, i got home, checked my oil, and i had none!!!!! I started the engine after i filled it back up, and i have this nasty tapping sound, in the lifter area, exhaust side. Anyway, this I had some mechanic look at it, and he told me it was my timming chain, he replaced it, still same tapping noise, he then changed out all of my lifters on the exhaust sound, and it worked. I had no tapping sounds at all, i reved the engine, everything was fine!!!!! All of a sudden, the tapping came back! Same noise same place. I took it back to the mechanic, he checked it out, and while so, i noticed oil was gushing out. Where the oil filler cap is, on the inside part, oil was flinging uipwards, i have smoke now coming out of my eninge, and some out of the exhaust only when i start up.

I NEED TO KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK MY PROBLEM IS AND WHAT TO FIX. luckily for me, my mechanic is not charging me for all the labor he has put in. we have fixed 2 things, and no soluition. he suggests that i have low oil pressure. I figure if i have oil coming out of the top part of the engine, gushing out in small bits, my oil pressure looks good, but i don't know. I need some help, lemme know what u all think. thanks

try doin a compression check, see what ya get for readings and let us know, <br>

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-Bryan Dube
Team Drop Zone
Vice President

my mechanic did a compresion check and it read normal. THats one of the first things he did. what else shoeld i check?

Did he get the gaskets from the cam towers to the timing housing backwards? 2 identical gaskets, but the orange on the exhaust gasket faces a diff way then the orange on the intake gasket. Basically they go in 180 opposite of each other. <br>

he only replaced the gasket on the exhaust side. I don't know if he mixed them up, i'll have to ask him. But would the gaskets being mixed up cause that same tapping sound to come back after driving 1/4 mile down th street?? I''m not too concerned about the leak, i'm just wondering why after replacing the lifters, the same problem came back after driving down the street. I appreciate all of your input, please help me out as much as you can. thanks
eliot

Depending on the "tapping" sound. Since you didn't check the oil and you seem to run your cavy hard and being that you have a 2.4 then I got an idea.

Since you ran it with almost no oil then it could be alot of things.

Did he pump the lifter in oil before putting them in?
Did he check if the lifter cylinder were all good?
Did he check the cam sitting point?


Could be alot of thing. #3 rod bearing, dry lifter, ...

Btw, if your "mechanic" can't find the problem, get another one. Someone with experience. Go see the Gm service manager, he know his thing(at least, they do here).

and it depends also on how you were "driving around"
<br>

Gilles
2.3 Ho

well, when i was "driving around" and barely went over 3k rpms. I started here the tapping sounds again once i saw smoke coming out of the hood. (burning oil). The mechanic is asi certified, he has his own shop and has worked on plenty 2.4L engine from sunfires, and grand ams. I thought it was funny when he told me that the old lifters he took out were in great shape. I was also told that it is very difficult to find damage on lifters, worn lifters appear to look normal. But anyway, What is the chance that he replaced all those lifters, and before i took the car out of the garage, i had it idle for 5 minutes, i revved the motor to about 4 k rpms, and then i drove off, very carefully, and that same tapping comes back in the same spot. If it was a rod bearing, that tapping noise would have still been there b4 i took off. The mechanic said that i have low oil [pressure, and the oil is not reaching those lifters, and thats why they are tapping again, bc they are getting no lubrication. What is the chance of this being what is wrong???? thanks for your help again.

How many miles on the car .. I doubt you oil pump (balnace shaft area) is bad but if ran it real low on oil you could have been pumping nothing but air. <br>



Hit 200 na Headed for 300

the motor has about 18k on it. I have to add that i was sriving 200 miles daily on it for the last week going about 80-100 mph on it. for about 1 hours straight.

by the way, i used castrol synthetic oil, and a k&n oil filter. at the time the tapping started, i had 2k on the oil change.

maybe a retainer that might be shot maybe??? Kinda weird since if you have a problem so soon like you are that I would imagine that synthetic oil would help keep the ticking noise down considerably. Something strange but a possibility to me is if you already have any aftermarket air induction piece you somehow managed to ingest foreign matter/debris and its forged down in the internals of the car. I have to guess that its not the oil pump, but that maybe one of the lifters/valve springs/retainers. Best of luck to you....curious to know what the problem is because now its got me wondering.

BEARING

The same noise in the same area, seem to be a lifter, but after 3 months of hear the noise it started to increase a little, so I put a NX 50 wet shot and run 5 passes on 1/4 mile and wow the bearing give away, and the little noise convert to a TACATACATACATACA sound very loud.

Rebuild.....

UPDATE****

when i start the car, when the engine is cold, it sounds fine, no problem. I can even gun it into 5500 rpm, over and over. But after it idles for 10 minutes, it gets warm, and it starts tapping again pretty bad. It seems to get worse as the engine warms up. Before i had the new lifters put in, i did add 1/2 quart of automatic transmission fluid to my oil, they said it may make the tapping go away the first time if i am lucky.

Anyway, what does that mean when it only taps when it is warm??? I had a second opinion, by another mechanic and they both seem to tell me that it is not a bearing, or in the lower end of the engine. what else could it be??

NEVER I REPET NEVER PUT ATF IN YOUR OIL It is very very bad. I hope you didnt mess up your mains or your rod berings <br>


soon to be boosted!! very soon.
bootburns@hotmail.com

change the intake lifter and see.
<br>

Gilles
2.3 Ho

i was always told to put 1/2 a quart i your oil to help free stuck lifters, or tapping lefters.

sounds like what I had with my 2.4l.....
since you ran it dry check your hydraulic chain tensioner (sp) it works with oil pressure and if it's dry or ran dry it can't do it's job... maybe it reset itself... cause I know when you get a new one you have to release it by hand.

hope this helps <br>






I need a new sig... with this pic: http://www.aznkid.com/cavalier/cav04s.jpg

My car started doing the same thing yesterday the oil light would come on going around corners and then a loud chattering / ticking sound started happening. So i checked my oil this morning and there was like none at all in it. I put 2 quarts in and it is still horrible but only after it has warmed up. At idle at initial startup it sounds normal until u start to rev on it. And once up to about 3,500 rpms is sounds horrible and when u left it makes a lound knock.

I have a 97 2.4 auto cav

Your Machanic is an idiot. The problem happen to be scoring on the valves. Exhaust valves get far hotter then intake and oil is needed to cool and lube then. Tapping in the valves is a result of OIL STARVATION. So "Marvel Miricle Oil" could help or replaciing them works also. Check your oil often and it should not return agian.


Team Tach Out
Http://www.team-tachout.com/
Falmouth,VA

I have this same problem with my engine now. There is a stripped bolt that holds the power steering to the cam tower. ( Or something to that effect.) It's been leaking oil thru there. My car does the exact same thing as above. When it's cold all sounds fine. Then once the engine warms up then you hear the tapping. I was told to check my oil pump and see if it's getting oil up there.

At any rate I'm gonna have mine looked at and let ya know what the deal is. Sounds the the same problem.


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the problem was fixed 2 years ago now, it turned out that i continued driving it, and eventually the entire rod bearing shot out. these cars have weak rod bearings and will melt very quickly if overheated, or low on oil. I could have saved my cars life if i had an oil pressure gauge. I havve one of them gauges finally!!!! But it is in my 97 z28 camaro! All you folks have a good one now.
Eliot

If you do have an oil leak on the side of the lifter that is making noise that could be causing it to starve, and tick. I'd check that out first. It's normal for an engine to only tick/knock when it's warm. Engines have more oil pressure with cold oil so you don't hear all the funny noises as much. Check out the top end and if that doesn't work have your mechanic pull the oil pan and look at your bearings, you could have ruined them when you starved the engine of oil.





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