Not sure what to think at this moment. I got 40 miles on the new engine and I started hearing a clunking sound in the engine. At first it only happened under deceleration. When the engine was under load it was smooth and had plenty of power. Let off the gas though and all sorts of clammering goin on. I had to drive it about 4-5 minutes after I started hearing the noise. At first I thought it was an exhaust leak. As I got closer to home though, the noise started getting louder and I thought it might have been some kind of transmission noise. By the time I pulled into the garage, it was just loud to beat hell. One thing I noticed right away was that the intake cam gear had slipped several degrees.

That was like a week or so ago. I've been away on vacation and finally got back to the garage to take a look at it. I pulled the valve cover and there were'nt any broken rocker arms. I pulled the oil pan and all of the rods seem to be hanging on to the crank nice and tight. There was no metal in the pan either.

I noticed a leak on the drivers side axle seal on the transmission case. It made me think of one little detail that I'd forgotten till then. When I refilled the transmission I only had 1.5 quarts of tranny fluid. I figured that I'd be able to pick up another quart relatively soon and so I wasn't too concerned about it at the time.

Here's the kicker. I reset my cam gears to 0, pulled the ignition harness, and crank it over. You can still hear this knocking sound while it's cranking.

At this point I think that I've gotta make sure the timing belt didn't slip and/or take the head off to check for valve damage...but my question is - When you loose a rod bearing, can you tell from visual inspection while the rods are connected? Shouldn't you be able to shake the rod up and down or something? Or do I just need to pull the caps and inspect the bearings? They seem pretty connected to the crank. When I spin the crank around by hand there's no knocking, and when I juke it back and forth the rods follow right along. Remember, the really odd thing(at least to me) is that while I was driving it the knocking sound only happened durring deceleration.

Kind of bummed. Any insight would be appreciated.


95 Eclipse RS : 5 speed
15.7 @ 87.9mph
Jeep TB writeup - http://www.dimensia.com:81/jimbo/JeepTBfor2gnt.html

Im happy you got the engine in Jim! Congrats! But I'm sorry about it not working yet. Thats tough, I don't really know what to say about the engine problems. I hope the valves didnt hit the pistons and get damaged,but I don't think thats the problem. Sounds like a bearing if you ask me. :(

I believe to get a visually good inspection of the rod bearings you need to pull the rod caps off. Theres a lil more info on this in my thread..."compression and engine inspection" theres also a lot of info on spun rod bearings using the search function.

Tough break man, Im working on pulling my engine right now, I jus hope I don't have too many serious problems once all is back together, but what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger and wiser. GL.


*winter rebuild in process*
GST Muffler
injen short ram intake
magnecore 8.5mm wires
EGR removal/blockoff
front/rear strut tower bars
GSX dual piston calipers

I'd say that your flexplate-to-clutch bolts are coming out. I had the same thing happen and I used loctite red and 55 ft. lbs. of torque on them. Don't drive the car until you fix it... you're bound to break something.

Off topic question, hey dougie, do you think you could post some more pics of your car, its nice.

Those bearing caps are a bitch to get off to inspect the rods. Pull the fasteners 3/4 of the way out and pinch them together to use as leverage. Sometimes a rubber mallet will help.

IMO if your cam gear slipped, your valves could have smacked the pistons. What were your compression numbers? It could also be something in the flexplate/flywheel as mentioned.

If you don't find anything inspecting the rod bearings, might want to just pull the engine back out (or tranny whichevers easier for you), check the flywheel, and then pull the head back off.

Sorry its not working right. That blows like no other. :thumbsdown

As easy as it is, I would DEF check out those flywheel bolts.

Yeah, sounds exactly like the flywheel bolts to me...

You use red loctite on them>? If not you should do it now....

Thanks guys. It was the flywheel bolts.

I took out cyl 1 and 4 rod bearings and they were fine. Checked the site again and Doug suggested the flywheel bolts. I had to wait a bit to check on them cause the Eagles were playing today(and lost). Anyways got back to it just now and sure enough - the flywheel bolt that was showing through the cover wasn't even hand tight. It was just loose. I didn't use any loctite on them the first time around. I only have blue and that'll have to do for tonight. I'll get this thing back together and get some red on those bolts this week.

Thank god I don't have to pull this damn engine out and have the crank machined. That would have really sucked.

You guys are the best. :thumbsup

:cheers


95 Eclipse RS : 5 speed
15.7 @ 87.9mph
Jeep TB writeup - http://www.dimensia.com:81/jimbo/JeepTBfor2gnt.html

this post goes for anyone lookig at this post later to get rod caps off especially eagles the best way is to loosen the bolts bring them out about 1/4 of the way tap on the bolt head with some that wont mall the bolt up and it will seperate the cap and the rod real easy unscrew the bolts some more tap a little bit and voila they are off and no damage

glad to hear nothing major jim..

now put that turbo on.



MetalJimbo: Don't matter how ugly you are - all the girls love you in the titty bar




Member # 333