Cam box or bearing problems?

Recently replaced the head gasket on my son’s 89 2.3 quad 4. The car now runs great and doesn’t overheat, however I have a somewhat high pitch wine or twittering sound that I’m not able to positively locate its origin. I’ve gone over every part the engine as well as the transmission with the old screwdriver to ear trick but can’t locate its source. The sound appears to be the loudest near the rear of the intake cam box. I thought maybe that oil wasn’t getting to the cam box so I took it off and opened it up but didn’t see any scoring on the housing, camshaft or lifters that would suggest a oil problem. I check the oil pressure with a manual gauge on the exhaust cam box and have good steady oil pressure there. Might be a main or connecting rod bearing but the engine doesn’t knock and have good steady oil pressure approximately 60 psi cold and 40 psi hot. I drained the oil and didn’t see any mental particles. When I replaced the head gasket I also had to replace the cylinder head as the old one was warped rather badly. I originally thought that since the cylinder head was so badly warped that maybe the cam box was warped as well, but that wasn’t the case. I might add that it’s neither the power steering pump nor the serpentine belt tensioner. Nor do I believe it’s coming from the timing chain or water pump area. Not sure what to do next either tear down the bottom end and actually check the bearings or try another cam box. Can anybody offer any advice here? The car runs great has good compression, good oil pressure and sounds like a frigging bird – help!!!!!!



Thanks

You mentioned that you checked the oil pressure with a manual gauge ... was it an autozone pressure gauge (like an in dash type) or was it a professional mechanic pressure gauge?

here's why I ask ...
I had a 95 quad 4 DOHC that I bought missing the head, put it together and it had a tick, thought it was a noise from the cam ... so I bought an autozone in dash pressure gauge, hooked it up and the pressure looked fine, got my buddy thats a mechanic to come over & look at it ... he says "your number 3 rod is knocking" I said how can you tell that, he says sounds & experience ... here let me prove it to you ... hooked up his pressure gauge (with a pair of vise grips over the soft rubber hose, started releasing the vise grips and the oil pressure was bouncing all over the place 10 - 70 psi). I tore it down and sure enough the #3 piston was hitting the head, the crank & rod were shot, the bearing was spun on top of itself. Seems the in dash pressure gauges don't pick up the variable pressure like a good gauge does.

If you want to know for sure, either have a mechanic check the oil pressure, buy a good gauge, tear the head back off and look for a spot with no carbon on the pistons, or drop the oil pan ... oil pump ... and pull the #3 rod cap off. I'd rather pay to have the pressure checked then do all that work, just my :2cents:

Update on my bearing noise problems. I finally threw in the towel and took the car to a local garage for a professional diagnosis of my problem. Turns out it wasn’t a bearing at all but rather a leaking throttle body gasket! When I originally took the throttle body off, the old gasket came off in one piece or so I had thought. A small section of the old gasket had stuck to the bottom bolthole and I neglected to notice it when I installed the new one. The leak was on the bottom and didn’t show up when I had sprayed carburetor cleaner around checking for that very possibility. I ask the people at the garage how they found the problem and they told me they use a smoke tester to pin point small vacuum leaks. Didn’t know there was such a thing!

Removed the old gasket material put a new 99-cent gasket on and my problem went away. Incidentally, the garage only charged me $43.51 for the diagnosis. Live and learn I guess!