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Knocking sound coming from the head/valvetrain

L

Lke2drvsvt

New CEG'er
Joined
Jan 11, 2005
Messages
20
'98.5 csvt, 70k miles or so. There's a strong knocking sound coming from the valvetrain/front head. It does it regardless if the motor is warm, cold, under load, not under load, etc. The sound gets faster as rpm increases so it must be linked to the valvetrain or something therein.

What's odd is there's no hesitation anywhere from the motor, or any noticeable differences in how the car drives. If you didn't know it was making the knocking sound you'd think nothing was wrong.

I've got some audio clips of it that I'll post up tonight. Any ideas what it could be?
 
The way I see it, you have two choices: Drive it until it blows up thereby showing for certain what the problem was or start taking the motor apart and find the cause before something blows which could break something else in the process. I would go the latter route. It could be a collapsed lifter. It could be a bearing. You won't know until you (or someone else) starts looking into it. It would also help to know what was going on before the knock appeared. I know no one on this board ever takes their engines to redline or beyond :laugh: but it might shed some light on what some possiblities might be.
Karl
 
The knock just randomly appeared one morning when I started it up on my way to work. Normal day, normal week, nothing new. Sure I drive it "spiritedly", but don't we all? :) It pulls hard all the way up to redline, cut-off works perfect, I can't find anything wrong with it.

Hopefully I'll have some time after new years to take off the manifolds/head. How long does it usually take?
 
It could BE a pinned injector.. One stuck in the back bank middle cylinder of my SVT and it made a noise very close to rod knock.. but then it just dissapeared over the next few days..
 
I have a ticking noise that is extemely loud. Anyone else have a loud "tick tick tick" or know what it might be?!?!
 
tick tick tick......who can say?

tick tick tick......who can say?

Reebs said:
I have a ticking noise that is extemely loud. Anyone else have a loud "tick tick tick" or know what it might be?!?!
Click to expand...
If you've got a tick, get a long screw driver (a stethoscope would be better) and put the handle end to one of your ears and touch the other end to various parts of the engine while it's running and see if you can locate where the tick is coming from. From there you can do some more detective work and hopefully find out exactly what is causing this "tick".
Karl
 
I had a loud knocking noise coming from the same area but it seemed like it was from the other head. Mysteriously went away. Ran 110% and like you said " You wouldn't know it if you didn't hear it" .
 
Heh well the noise has changed. It doesn't knock like it did, now it's more of a weird grinding noise with the occasional knock, but it's not as often anymore. I haven't done a thing to it yet, I guess I'll give it some time :p
 
I found out that my flexplate separated and it was rubbing making a grinding noise and I had to replace it. After the replacement I have no more thumping or knocking noise from the head area. good luck for your fix. Hope its easy
 
Post a sound clip. I had the same noise come from the rear cylinder head, but it was accompanied by a misfire Cyl. 5 code and a random misfire code. Ended up being a broken valve spring that was allowing the valve to bounce off the 5 piston. :( Sounded just like a rod knock.

Accompanied with grinding and you could really have some serious problems.
 
Doesn't sound like a knock to me. Sounds more like something is loose. Maybe precat guts broken and shaking or exhaust flange loose.
 
Where were you recording from? The sound seems fairly muffled. If you were sitting in the driver seat I'd have to say it sounds a bit like a rod knock. If you were right at the motor get closer to the oil pan.

You could drain the oil and see if there is any metal bits in it. Also with the oil drained get a small extendable magnet and shove it throught the drain plug hole and see if you get any metal bits.
 
I was recording from the driver seat with the doors/windows closed. I drained the oil and there was no metal.

Doesn't sound like a knock to me. Sounds more like something is loose. Maybe precat guts broken and shaking or exhaust flange loose.
Click to expand...

It's definitely something internal, the audio of it doesn't really do a great job.

Although I drove it last night and it was COMPLETELY changed. (I was on vacation for a week so it just sat there.) Last night it was really fast "clicks" that were just random. It almost sounds like there's just a small piece of something flying around in the valvetrain getting stuck in different spots...
 
Something worthwhile to try (because this actually happen to me) is to check the wiring going to the coil pack.

I was experiencing the same thing I had no idea what could have been causing it. As it turns out the wire that grounds to the bolt on the passenger side of the coil pack had cracked insulation on the wiring and was very corroded. I saw this once I pulled back the loom on the wires. Once I fixed that the clicking/knocking went away.
 
Thats the same noise that I had and have previously had before. Its gone away twice. The second time around it was really loud. Once I popped the hood the thump was so loud my neighbor came over and was like what the hell is that! I had my flywheel replaced and now that I have the car back it doesn't do it anymore. Not saying that it was the flywheel that was the problem. Ohh yeah I never run 87 octane anymore either. I get alot of noises when I do that. So I always use 89 or higher. Just a thought.
 
Who runs 87 octane in an svt??? 93 all the time here. C/R above 10:1, almost always premium is needed.

I'll check for those suggestions when I get a chance, thanks.
 
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