ticking/knocking noise from top of quad four

[jackhole567]

i have a 2.3 dohc from a 92' that i rebuit a while back, the water pump had gone out and the whole engine was seized up, i put new everything in it except lifters. which i believe are hydralic? i haden't run the engine since i rebuilt it, and i just put it in my 95 grand am gt, now it makes a rapid knocking noise, sounds like it's coming from the cam housings anyone know what to do or if the glue like consitancy of the oil before i rebuilt it would screw up my lifters? any info would be greatly appreciated

[mboyko2000]

I'm not sure if this is your situation, but it might be. From chilton's....

If the new lifters have been installed or the lifters bled down while the engine was disassembled, excessive lifter noise may be heard. THIS IS NORMAL, no engine damage is occurring. Use the following to purge the air from the lifters:
a. Start the engine and allow it to warm up for 5 minutes.
b. Increase the engine speed to 2000 rpm until the lifter noise is gone.
c. Return the engine to idle for an additional 5 minutes or road test.

[jackhole567]

thanks but it doesn't matter now any way cuz massive amounts of smoke are coming from the exhaust and i'm pretty sure the brand new head gasket is screwed, when i started the engine the first time the needle on the oil pressure gauge was burried past 80 psi... do you know anything about a check valve in this engine that maybe holds oil in the cam housings

[gmack221]

the check ball you are refering to is in the block, below the head, on the passenger side rear of the block, all that does is keep the oil thats in the oil passages in the head and cam housings full when the motor is shut off. I've been told its a good thing to clean when doing a head. The massive oil pressure you have at cold startup may be a bad pressure regulator, on my motor (95) it was a in the oil pump cover. I replaced that (dealer item $30), not sure if the 92 oil pump is the same.
on a side note 80psi may be normal check into it before you tear it down. also a little smoke from a new motor may also be normal, keep in mind if you did a complete tear down with new pistons and rings the rings may not be seated yet, go thru a break in procedure before you jump to conclusions, usually you start it for 10 mins, then let it cool down, run it for 10 more mins, cool down, run it for 10 more mins, then road test it.

[Rockett30]

2.3 Quad 4 engine is known for high oil pressure. My 88 quad 4 has 80+ psi when started and will come down to 60 psi @ 2000 rpm when warm and 30 psi at idle. I use 5W30 synthetic oil. This is normal. I just replaced my Crankshaft and oil pump and cleard out the oil passeges in the block. After doing much research, I learned that this is the way the engines were designed.