Engine wont make it to 230,000?
 

Well, I think the end is near for my engine. I now get a loud clanking that increases with speed and load at startup until the car fully warms up.

Based on my old school V8 days, it sounds like a rod bearing on its way out.

Any thoughts?

Doug

Well that is not good news.:( Is it more of a metallic higher pitched noise tock-tock-tock or does it sound more muffled like a chunk-chunk-chunk-chunk?

I have a 97 OBS with a 2.2 and it has been making some strange noises in the cold weather. A valve tap I thought that would go away when it got warm started at 80k and now at 170k it still sounds like a valve tap and then when it is warm more like a chunck or a thud and stays when it gets warm. Gets louder when the engine is loaded up.

If I was driving it I would keep running it until it got real noisy but my son uses at school in VT. So I am thinking of replacing it this summer.

I am not sure how you would decide if it was rod bearing, wrist pin or valve adjuster.

I think the noise in the wrist pin and valve adjuster is effected by the cold oil more. It is harder for the oil to flow into these parts when the engine and oil are cold. Have you tried a 10w-30 syn oil? The 5W-30 is not recommended for the highway.

The rod bearing would be making the noise if the clearance was large. The thunk is the con rod smacking the crank. This larger clearance would allow more oil to flow out of the bearing and I think this would get noisier when the oil got hotter.

Re: Engine wont make it to 230,000?
 

1. Sorry to hear it. :(

2. Get it fixed. It's an SVX!

I can probably come up with a few more if you give me some time. Sadly, none will be of much use.

Well, it truly goes away when the engine warms up so my diagnosis my be off. It is not muffled at all, I expect a piston to fly through the fender when I leave a stop sign. I run 5w-30 but do mostly city driving over the last few months. I have never run synthetic in the engine, always penzoil 5w30 or 10w30 back when I used to commute with it.

I will absolutely get it fixed, that's not even in question. My only question is will it make it to Reading or should I have a new motor swapped in prior to the 1800 mile trek. I am having the oil pump changed at the end of this month, but I'm going to have the mechanic look and listen to the clank/clunk before he spends the time on it.

Doug

That is really a tough call.
I hope it turns out to be the oil pump. :)

That would be awesome, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Doug

re: sorry to digress
 

umm...so 5w30 is not recommended for highway driving? whoops i just put mobil1 5w30 into mine and plan on driving out of town with it. is it truly bad for the car?

I had a Honda CRX (HF) several years ago. It ran great and got 54 mpg. One day in the fall when I started it, it made such a loud noise it was scary. It sounded like a gun being shot. Bang-Bang-Bang and was worse under load. Sometimes it would do it and other times no. More often when it was cold but never hot. That was wrist pin noise.

Do I remember that you were checking your oil pressure with a gauge?

You are definitely the pioneer of high mileage SVX engines.:)

Wrist pin, huh? That is a pretty accurate description of the noise.

I have a gauge mounted, but not hooked up yet. Its been damn cold this winter (usually in the single digits) and my garage isn't built yet.

Honestly, I probably brought this on myself. Had I religiously changed oil and replaced the oil pump sooner, I probably wouldn't be having this problem.

Doug

The mechanic told me that I could drive it that way for a long time before it was a problem but I didn't find out. I sold the car shortly after that. It was really dangerous in the rain. The front end would slide all over the road when the brakes were applied at 60 mph.

Think about this, from a relative stand point it takes very little energy to make a noise, our ears are very sensitive. :)

What was your oil change interval Doug? Why do you think you should have replaced the oil pump? The design is pretty basic and rugged. You might lose some efficiency as things wear, but I doubt you'd see a catastrophic failure of the pump.

Todd

I changed the oil between 4K and 10K depending on the weather. I decided to change the oil pump because the lifters were starting to tick last summer at idle and the crank and cam seals were leaking anyway.

Doug

Doug

Hope everything comes out ok. I am sorry to hear of your problems. :( Good luck.

All the older 1800 e82's did the same thing. It was usually just the lifters ticking. they can get real noisey. changing the oil pump would cure it. Also some of the 2.5's have piston slap when cold. they expand when warmed up and the slapping goes away. My SVX does the same thing and goes away as soon as warmed up. Been like that for 50'000 miles. I use mobile 1 15-40 yearound and change it every 10'000miles along with trans fluid. 10'000 miles goes by pretty quick commuting from ME to Mass. Last year I put on 60'000 miles. I don't push it until she's warmed up. I'm hopeing for 300'000 miles without to much trouble. I'm over 230'000 miles already.

I noticed last night that there is a lot of oil coming out the exhaust. In fact when I parked the car last night (probably will sit for a while now) there were actually oil drips from the exhaust onto the ground. It does not look good.

Doug