Engine rattle

[muhnihausen]

Just picked up my first Trackick - A 1994 Tintop. Amazingly it has a perfect interior and zero rust. The bad thing is that it has 209,000 miles! (a good canidate for a diesel conversion!)

The engine is silent at idle, but I'm getting some serious rattle at about 2k rpm. It disappears if I floor it or on overrun.

I adjusted the valves yesterday (the first time I've ever adjusted valves) and none seemed loose. Matter of fact they all seemed to be a little tight. After the adjusting, the motor sounds about the same.

Any ideas?

[austin]

Ping ? timing off?

[muhnihausen]

It definitely doesn't sound like a ping (or tick), but a full blown rattle. I'm more used to getting ping in other vehicles under load, but on the tracker it goes silent under heavy load.

I also forgot to mention that this is a 8v.

thanks

[skyhiranger]

Rod and/or crank bearings possibly.

[muhnihausen]

Sorta what I was thinking. I guess I was in denial and just needed someone else to say it.

Before I pull it apart I'm going to try some thicker oil (15w-40) and see if the noise quiets down a bit.

[ajbiglin]

Put some Lucas oil stabilizer in it.  Let it warm up and dump it in while running.  I ran my Kick for about 20,000 miles after my wife ran it for 2 days completely dry on oil.  The only thing that saved it was the lucas.

[Surly]

If it seems to be coming from the front of the engine, it could be the timing belt tensioner or the plastic cover. It's also pretty common for rattling noises to come from a broken exhaust manifold or a damaged catalytic converter.

A worst-case scenario would be broken piston skirts or worn wrist pins.    You could always drop the oil pan and look for chunks of aluminum.

HTH

[Sidekick Eddie]

Your problem is most likely to be a main journal is cracked in the block at the crank. My 91 4 door done the same thing. And if you'll notice it is louder when you accelerate and the drive train is under more torque. If this is your case I say drive it until you do your diesel conversion. Thats what I did until I put in my turbo 1.6 8v .


                                                                                     Eddie