Trying to figure out what I assumed was a rod knock on the firat cylinder but doesn't seem to be. Car sat for a month to 6 weeks, started and drove it for a week, no problems, end of the week, about a block away from home I start hearing a knocking, shut it off and coast it down hill into the drive. Start it up and get out and it's knocking on the timing side. Had to replace the oil pan due to the exhaust rubbing through the side so what better time to do it. Drop the pan, check bearings and everything is tight. Bearings all look good, no discoloration on the rods suggesting one gone hot. Cars never been low on oil, maybe a little top off between changes, never more than a 1/4 of a quart so I know it's never been starved due to lack of oil. When I dropped the oil it was clean, same with the filter. Even went as far as to cut it open and check, once again, spotless no glitter in the media. While it has been parked I've also did a timing belt, new pulleys and tensioner, thinking the hydraulic tensioner gave out and was knocking on the pulley bracket but thats not the case either. Hopefully someone has experienced something I'm missing or overlooking. So I'm at a loss, any suggests would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Video

 

Make sure the harmonic balance didn't come loose (crank pulley for serp belt).

 

I was going to pull the serpentine belt and run it and see if that stops the noise, eliminates the balancer, a/c compressor and everything else that's runs on that belt.

 

What balancer

 

Crank pulley, it's actually a harmonic balancer, it's has a rubber ring that the outer grooved pulley is attached to and sometimes over time they the rubber break downs and the pieces separate. I checked this once before and it seemed solid.

 

Shoot a video

 

You'll be able to see it wobbling if it came loose. Mine did, and it was obvious lol. Tore up the timing belt and ruined the crankshaft cog for the timing belt.

 

This is why I am at a loss here, I had the pulley off when I did the timing belt, everything seems tight and in order there. Thought it was the hydraulic tensioner losing its pressure over time, replaced it with the timing belt along with all the pulleys to help eliminate that possibility as well. Did this after dropping the pan and checking the bearings and coming up with nothing in the bottom end. I will try to get a video up soon, problem is the downpipe is off since I dropped the pan and didn't want to bolt it back up if I still had to pull the pan again so hearing the knock on video may be a tad hard. Was looking for some insights as to what else it could be. I am going to pull the serpentine belt and eliminate any of the accessories next.

 

Did you actually pull the rod caps off and check the bearings? You can have a bit of rod knock without bluing the end of the rod from heat, and only a few extra thou of clearance that you may not really be able to just "feel" the difference.

 

I didn't pull the cap yet, figured with the knock there would be a decent amount of measurable play in the rod and I just wasn't getting that at all. That was also on the list of to do if I couldn't narrow down the noise with removing the belt. Hopefully catching it earlier enough saved the parts and won't have much of an issue and rolling in a new set of bearings is an option.