So I noticed a few days ago that my car was making a strange ticking noise when I pressed the accelerator pedal. It wasn't very loud, but I took note of it in case it started to get worse. And of course, it wound up getting worse last night. It seemed to only be really loud when at 2400-3100 RPM. I did a bit of digging and based off of the symptoms, it seems that it could be lifter tick. Dirty oil, aftermarket cams, oil slightly low (kept forgetting to keep tabs on it), etc. Now I'm not so sure that the issue is with my lifters. Today I headed over to Pep Boys to get an oil change, since I'm still not proficient enough to do it myself nor do I have the equipment, and everything sounded the same as last night on the way there. However, when I left the parking lot, the ticking was substantially louder and was accompanied by a bit of what sounded like grinding. I pulled into an empty spot and checked my oil and it was below the bottom tick mark on the dipstick. I went into Pep Boys and bought some oil and added it to the engine. I let it idle for about 10 minutes before taking it back out onto the road. At this point, the grinding had stopped. I pulled out onto the road, and as I accelerated up to speed, my car stopped accelerating at about 4000 RPM and started making strange noises that I don't know how to describe. I tried pressing the gas all the way down while in gear with the clutch fully depressed and with it in neutral and it revved up to redline fine (with the ticking sound changing tempo with the RPMs). The BOV releases pressure like normal, so that leads me to believe it's not the turbo. I don't know what it is, but I'm really hoping it's not an expensive fix.

TL;DR: Engine won't rev past 4k while in gear, ticking sound coming from top end.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Stop running it and pull the valve cover. Something isn't right there.....

I am thinking valve and/or lifter problem. That noise is more than just a lifter tick.....

 

Yep, as stated above....since you rev'd it to redline with an unknown problem, I assume you rev'd it to redline on a regular basis--with that said you could easily have dropped a rocker. You have a lot of oil and what looks to be soot on the VC, have you looked for a cracked manifold and have you check for other exhaust leaks? Sounds like a miss but you should also be able to feel it---if the car runs smoothly ( doesnt sound like it) then check for cracked manifold or other leaking gaskets, if you can feel a miss as you drive--then the valve train has an issue. Could also be you have a bad lifter--again collapsed from over reving..
Do yourself another favor, and when you suspect an engine issue---dont rev to redline to check it--never a good idea.

 

Is there any likelihood at all that it could be a loose spark plug? And I didn't really rev it to redline, it was more just revving it past 4k while in neutral. I was trying to eliminate variables.

 

I seriously doubt that.
Why would you be asking that instead of just checking?

 

Stop doing this ^



....and pull your VC.

 

I pulled the valve cover and I didn't see anything that looked broken. All of the lifters seemed to be in place, no broken valve springs. Pulled the spark plugs, and the tips were all black. They were just cleaned a few weeks ago. One thing of note, after returning home and letting the car sit for a couple hours, I popped the hood and saw oil residue on the outside of the valve cover. Then I rechecked the dip stick. It came out dry. I have the car parked on a level surface, so that doesn't make sense to me at all. My oil levels magically went down after I added a quart of oil. I just added another half-quart, I'm gonna recheck it in a few minutes.

Edit: I rechecked the oil and now have a reading on the dipstick. It's still low, so I added a half quart of RISLONE and will be checking it again in about 5 minutes.

Edit 2: Still low, added the rest of the RISLONE and I'm gonna take another reading once it's set.

 

I added the rest of the RISLONE and the oil level was back up to normal. Started the car and let it warm up & idle to let the oil run through it for a few minutes. It was shaking a good bit more than it usually does, and then I popped the hood and saw this:







I shut it down immediately and took those. I've decided I'm in over my head, so I'll be having it towed to a performance shop on Monday to get it looked at.

 

Daaaam.... How in the world...

 

Could a bad valve cover gasket be the cause of the oil spraying all over everything? I looked at the underside of my valve cover again and saw that there are a couple of places where it looks pretty gnarly. Although I don't know how that could really explain the oil getting on top of the valve cover...

 

I was thinking gasket as well but it just seems toooo chaotic for a gasket. I haven't seen a gasket do that much before.

 

+1. I don't see that being a valve cover gasket. I would replace it and re-check but there isn't that much pressure up there to cause a spray like that in only a few minutes.

 

Okay, so I had a friend of mine come by and look at the car yesterday. The development of a rough idle was my own stupid fault. I didn't notice that the cylinder 1 injector power plug had come off when I removed the VC (the plastic clip that keeps it in place it broken). I also noticed that there's a tiny little crack in the VC on the screw hole nearest the rear cam gear. I didn't take any pictures of it though (I forgot). I replaced the VC gasket, but I lost a couple of the bolts thanks to my crappy gloves not being able to get a good grip on them. I don't want to turn the motor over without all of them in place, so I'm gonna wait for the new set of bolts I ordered to get here.

I've been told by a couple of mechanic friends I have that I could have jumped timing and bent a valve (the belt is kinda loose below the cam gears. I get about 1"-1.25" of movement), or I spun a rod bearing because of low oil. Someone else also had suggested a broken piston wrist pin, but I find that to be unlikely. In the videos I've seen showcasing knock from a spun bearing, it seems that it's always present at every RPM. Mine is only present at certain RPM ranges, so either it isn't a spun rod bearing, or it isn't really that bad yet. I'm having it taken to R/T Tuning to get checked out on Thursday, so I'll update the thread with any new info I get.

 

Any performance shops local to you? I'd have them check it out. If you know how I would do a leak down test. Will test you a lot about your motor.

 

I have it at R/T Tuning right now. They're pulling the oil filter to check for metal debris. I'm also gonna have them do a compression/leak down test. Hopefully that'll help me find out what needs to be done.