97 Grand Am 2.4l knocking

[Winks]

My Grand Am has a bad oil leak (timing chain gasket) recently overheating and now makes a knocking noise while accelerating, especially up hills - which stinks as I live in Pennsylvania! I am pulling it apart - camshaft covers (both - its a dohc) and timing chain cover. How do I determine if its a main bearing or bent lifter rod or bad rockers? Im not a mechanic, only when I have to be. Any help on troubleshooting would be greatly appreciated. bty, new member -first thread.

[jamesslcx]

What kind of knocking noise? Is it a deep heavy knock? A rattling noise? I always use a pry bar with a handle held to my ear to isolate the noise. Does it knock all the time?

[Winks]

No, not all of the time. When I first start the car, I can hear it briefly. When accelerating & higher rpm's it becomes louder. My car recently overheated, I let it cool down & started it - it didn't sound good after that. The oil was very low (timing chain gasket I think). Now I replaced oil, runs & idles fine, but doesn't have as much power - along with the knock when accelerating & going up hills. Up hills really labors - car has no power. The no power thing - could this be a bad lifter? My buddy suggested bearings on main went - I sure hope not. Is that a job I can do? The Sound is more like a clack. It also does it just after hitting the gas when Im parked. Vroom clack clack vroom clack clack. I will let U know if I can isolate sound. Any help with that? Should I listen to top & bottom? Where exactly - oil pan, on the block, timing chain cover?
Thx for the reply jamesslcx.

[Tech II]

Why did it overheat? Loss of coolant? Thermostat? Cooling fan did not run?

It's possible what you are hearing is timing chain slap due to a bad tensioner....should never have taken off the cam covers.......

Was the oil leak found and repaired? Rare for a timing chain gasket....sure it wasn't the crank oil seal?

[jamesslcx]

Bearing noise is usually a deeper kind of knock. Listen down low for bearing knock, cam cover for a lifter and timing chain cover for a loose chain. Winks, is the check engine light on? Have you checked it for codes if it has come on? How is the coolant level?

[Winks]

Why did it overheat? - low oil level. Yes I know, bad bad me for being lazy and not checking enough.
Pretty sure the oil leak is coming from timing chain cover - it appears to splashing on firewall around this area - engine was in this shape when I got it. Minor leakage from cam covers - which I did not remove yet... I want to check chain/tensioners first. Could oil pressure be so high it would be spraing out of filler cap?
The clacking gets louder as the engine gets hotter. Almost makes me think its water pump related. I replaced water pumps before & usually when they go you can r3eally tell - coolant running out. That is not the case. As much as I hate to do it, I may re-assemble the parts I have removed to do a thorough check on type of sound & location. I was told by a friend it was lifter rod(?) so I jumped in. In process of removing engine mounts to get to timing chain cover to get to cam covers. I love these 2.4 dohc's.

[Tech II]

Lifter rods? No such thing.....

[xeroinfinity]

Winks, if u ran it low on oil and over heated the engine, its very likely you've blown the head gasket and possible you have some bearings damaged.
Also if you starve the OHC components of oil, this can become damaged quick!

on the oil leak, it could just be from the cam cover and then it runs around the engine when driving. oil tends to flow rather well when its heated and can be tricky finding the exact leak(s) especially if the engine is dirty/oily.