Engine Knock

[86VickyLX]

Well today, Vicky developed a loud low end knock. Now normally, I would think the motor was dead, but the mother fucker still has oil pressure. I have a video of it, but I can't upload it via attachments. I am really confused and upset, is the motor fucked?

[Pesty351]

Uh-oh spaghettio

[cld783]

doubt it but its really hard to give you answers without hearing it.

[Tiggie]

Does it do it at all times?

Mine knocks like heck now during warm up. It's serious piston slap in my case. Goes away when it's warm. My bearings are still rock solid with 25psi of oil pressure on 10W-30 at hot idle in drive, it's just the pistons don't fit teh bores anymore until they heat up and expand.

[86VickyLX]

Gonna upload it on Photobucket, and then I'll post it here.

[86VickyLX]

Tiggie, this is when it's warmed up. I don't know what it'll sound like when it's cold.

[86VickyLX]

btw mangs, in the middle of the video, I walk around to the other side of the car, which is why at one point you can't hear the noise.

[cld783]

doesn't sound good vicky.

definitely not the piston slap i'm used to hearing..

[grandpaslincoln]

GodDAMN that's bad. Mine does that too, but you can barely hear it, and it only does it when it's hot. The only thing about what I'm hearing is though is it's not steady and constant, it's like random knocking sounds. You sure it's the bottom end and not something in the valve train? I'd think if it were the bottom end you'd hear it no matter which side of the engine you are standing by.

[1987cp]

Have you taken a stethoscope to it? Might prove educational.

Sounds a bit like rod knock to me, sort of like what my dad's Saturn did when it spun two rod bearings. I would assume it would be running funny if it were majorly valvetrain-related, and it sounded like it's idling pretty smooth other than the rattley noise. My '79 351 had a knock that was a lot more constant, and it did suffer from low oil pressure ("Replace Engine" light came on constantly at idle and flickered during driving).

[87_crown_vic]

sounds like a rattling of something in there... do you hear more on side or at front of car? need more diagnosing to single out since video was in dark.... sounds like push rods bouncing around to me....but hard to tell

[Rob Roy]

Sounds awfully irregular to be a rod knock, but it is hard to tell. Can you narrow it down to a particular part of the engine? Timing chain could be hitting the cover, loose torque converter bolts, etc etc.

[p71towny]

Damn son, sounds like a corn thrasher.

[P72Ford]

That is pretty loud...

At cold startup my car makes noise sometimes. Its very faint though (almost impossible to hear over the idling exhaust), and very rythmic. As others have mentioned, the sound we are hearing has no pattern. Typically lower end noises have a specific rythm which speeds and slows with the engine speed. Does the noise speed up when you give it a little gas?

If it is indeed a bottom end knock, you cvan still drive it if you're careful. My brother's F250 is very noisy at startup, but he has put 20K miles on it that way. I knew a guy that drove a K car with a serious bottom end knock, for over 100K miles.

[86VickyLX]

sounds like a rattling of something in there... do you hear more on side or at front of car? need more diagnosing to single out since video was in dark.... sounds like push rods bouncing around to me....but hard to tell

side, basically the back of the engine, closer to the transmission. I can't hear it in front of the engine.