engine knock-kinda loud

Hi,

I am a poor college student and am in need to help desperately! Yesterday my engine started a knock from the top of the engine. (98 Eagle Talon/ Eclipse Esi, GS) Immediately i turned the engine off to save a potentially hazardous situation. I went ahead and changed the oil and put in higher octane, but neither worked. I had a friend listen to the car and he said that it was probably a rocker arm. The sound is not coming from the timing belt side, but it looks like it is piston #4(far right piston). I pulled off the spark plug and freaked because there was oil in there! However, it could be a seal, but im not sure. I pulled the cover off and lifted the cams. I checked out each rocker arm, but they all checked out ok. Looked pretty good. The engine does have 99K on it, but ive treated it very well since having. Does anyone have any ideas on what it could be?

THank you

Aaron Henry

Is is a constant sound, approx 1/2 crankshaft rotation speed? (cams spin at 1/2 crank speed) Have you heard lifter tick before?

EDIT>> Oops, I mean constant frequency, not constant sound. Tick Tick Tick :)

I do believe it is a constant frequency. When i rev the engine the sound obviously picks up. I have heard of lifter tick, but i am not too familiar with it. Can you explain it to me in more detail. All i know is that it can be the spring not moving causing the rocker arm to hit or "tap" on something. I work on cars, but this is the first time ive ever really opened up an engine. thank you very much

Well to be honest, there are several parts that can gap out and tap eachother at the same rate. However, you might be at ease to know that there are plenty of cars with lifter tick. My car does it right now. Check these out:

http://members.shaw.ca/costall/1000Q/answers-problems.htm#myengineticks
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=118213

could be a blown headgasket that has progressed....

my nissan did that b4 the engine blew.....do a compression test....can rent that from autozone i think :dunno:

so you pulled the cam shaft off to look at the lifter/roller rocker? if so put it back on... without pressure on the lifter... cam lobe facing upward try to move the lifter/roller rocker if it moves, like if there is play in it, you most likely have a bent valve!

OFF TOPIC: i thought honda owners hated us? if so why are you here? not being a dick or trying to start anything, i was just curious?

i post in every forum...i'm all about helping...and where u messed up is putting every honda owner in one catagory....

but right about now i wish i still had my honda instead of walking

thats cool man i just was curious... no offence intended! glad your here to help, and sorry about the whole "every honda owner thing" its just what i have come to realize...

When you checked the lifter did you press down on it? If you pressed down on them and they moved or felt spongey then the lifters are bad. If I were you I would go and spend 10 bucks get a mechanics thesiscope and listen to where the noise is coming from. I had the same problem with my car but It was near the #1 piston. I thought I was the lifter, then I thought it was the valves. Then I really came to find out that I had a rod knock. Then I had to change the whole engine. Where are you from Aaron?

I'll tell you exactly what my car sounded like here goes....

My car "ticked" slightly when it was on.
If I gave it gas it would get louder until about 2500 rpm then If I gave it more gas and kept it there the noise would seem to go away. But I think It was just being drowned out by engine noise.

my lifters i dont think are bad. i did try to press each of them down and i could not do it. and i pressed pretty hard. im going to pull the oil pan off today and pray i dont have a rod knock! Now this "tick" seems louder than a tick would seem to sound. when i rev the engine it is not drowned out by the exhaust or the engine, it just gets louder with it.

also:
before i pulled everything apart i noticed oil in my #4 spark plug? what would cause that? and if oil is getting in my spark plug because of a improper seal, is it possible that the tick has just gotten that loud because of not being properly lubricated?

Drop your oil pan and check it out. Also, You can try to change your valve cover gasket, get the whole kit with the seals for the spark plugs. Change your plugs as well. If not all of them change just one.

Lets hope you dont have a rod knock. If you do it will be cheaper to just purchase another engine. If you want to try to rebuild let me know I have a whole 420a with all kinds of stock parts. Complete engine with a rod knock but it does have a new Head on it.

could it be a bad piston ring?

I dont know if its possible for a piston ring to "tick"

But its hard to tell without knowing exactly where the noise is coming from.

well this seems louder than a "tick". i would think i tick would sounds something like a clock. and the oil pan is a real pain to get off. i would like the engineers of mitsubishi to know that! im gettin pretty frustrated so i think i am going to take it to a shop to diagnose the problem

they arent that hard to take of... i have had mine on and off of my GST about 7 times already to clean it in the parts washer to get the glitter (metal shavings) out of he oil :rolleyes:!

anyways for the tick... your connecting rod bearing could have failed and is allowing the connecting rod to move around on the crankshaft making the tick... as for this you would need to pull the hole motor and replace the bearing and get your connecting rod resized and crankshaft turned... this is what my GST had wrong with it when i got it, thats why i did the 6 bolt swap, my crankshaft and 2 connecting rods were too far gone so i would have had to replace them, so it was about the same price for me to spend $600 on a 6 bolt and have that built up instead of spending $600 and still having the 7 bolt! good luck... hopefully it isnt that, maybe just rings or something, check the compression first! oh ya and dont forget to drain the oil out of the pan first!!! :grinno:

LOL-the oil was the first to go in this repair process, but i will have the shop get it out. if it is the bolt i think i will just swap and slap on a turbo and go from there if i can afford it

took it to the shop today-its gonna cost me 353.00 to put the engine back together with a new timing belt and to check out whats wrong! damn cars are expensive!

Actually 353 is not that bad. Expecially with a new timing belt, those are a few hundred alone.

that's kinda cheap...nissan asked for $500 to see what's wrong with my car....if i knew then what i know ow i would brought a new engine...but i didn't do t and gave the car back to the finance place...

but this is a tough choice to make...either spend the money to have them look at ur car or save the money and put it towards a new engine...like i said b4...my nissan had the same problems ur talkin about and i needed to replace the engine

well its just putting the valve cover and cams back together-nothin major, but if it is a good deal on just putting stuff back together then i guess i went to the right place

yeah i see where u are coming from. i just hope an engine change is not needed! ill find out tommorrow and let everyone know what they say is wrong with it. hopefully all it ends up being is a 353.00 seal. however, my gut feeling is it is a piston problem that i will need a new engine. where are some good places to pick one up that you know of-saving MONEY is GOOD!

look on ebay...u can look by state so u can go to the place near you and not have to pay shipping

no luck on ebay-there arent any engines for my year/model which is a 98 Non turbo. please let me know if you come across any

thanks

I don't understand how a piston could make a tapping sound. The piston itself doesn't make contact with anything, but you might hear some a rod knock if there is a gap in the rod cap or the other side in the piston. I really doubt it though.

if the rings were gone then the piston would rattle off the cylinder walls! do a compression check!!!

its all already under way. i was really frustrated with everything so i took it to a shop. they are supposed to tell me whats wrong with it tommorrow morning so i will let you guys/gals know. thanks for all the advice, but i think im just gonna be paying like a MOFO on this one!

the shop told me that it was a piston slap! ouch! anywho...i have a few options: 1. sell the car to an auto finance thing 2. buy a new engine 3. replace the pistons. what should i do considering im low on money and still need a decent car to drive?

never heard of piston slap....but i know i gave my car back to the finance place...only b/c i could afford payments and get it fixed...but u could always spend like $200-$300 for an old car to drive around in while gettin the car fixed...mabey call around junkyards for engines or somethin...

no offense but y do you post in the eclipse boards blu civic? you obviously are a devoted honda driver and i cant see many things in common between eclipses and civics.

there's one think they have in common....they'r3e cars...plain and simple....one major point of a car forum is to get help with problems....doesn't matter who helps as long as they help...would be wrong of me not to help out someone who asks...i don't just post here or the honda forums....i'm all over AF

that works

dont worry about him hes cool and here to help just like everyone else! and piston slap is just what i stated... when your rings sort of disinegrate and the piston is left with a gap between it and the cylinder wall causing it to slap against the wall!

SO HERES WHERE I AM NOW on this expensive journey that i have just begun... where can i get a good set of pistons for a decent price? since i have to replace them i want some that i can add some boost to. not any crazy fast times or anything, but something that sounds cool and smokes some GT Mustang mama's boys. NO OFFENSE INTENDED! just have a lot of them around here! thanks for all the help too!

mine was tickin and found out the manifold was leakin and made a tickin noise. dont know why there would be oil on the plug