SR20 ticking noise (video included)

[mk2mike]

I know I know... my first post here and about something probably covered a million times. But heres the info:

Basically I made a deal on a car (traded a fully built 16v turbo jetta, were I did the full rebuild on it. ) I traded it straight accross and all seemed okay. Until I drove it home. When looking at the car I heard a slight ticking noise. Figured it was a Lifter as im used to VW hydro lifters being noisey.

Got the car home after a 3 hour drive and the car sounded TERRRRRRIBLE!!!!!

(SEE ATTACHED VIDEO)

Sr20det noise - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4RLiLfqdE&list=UU48oXVfY2HPRg7HHZw3-WsQ&index=1&feature=plcp)

I removed the valve cover and under a FULL inspection found the cam oil squirter rail was cracked at the end which im assuming cause no oil pressure in rail, so no squirting action. (noise seems to be coming from intake side as well)

Replaced the rails and bled all 8 of the lifters. Fired it up today and....

the noise is still there.... any thoughts???:facepalm::facepalm:

[patsS14]

timing chain guide or rod knock..

[Kingtal0n]

Try to notice if the noise happens every 1 revolution, or every 2 revolutions.

Try turning the engine by hand and notice if the noise persists.

Try lowering the idle speed until it is ticking very slowly to try and narrow down the location.
Inspect the chain, tensioner, guides

first guess is valvetrain related, maybe something is missing or cracked or misaligned. When you removed the cams to bleed the lifters did you notice the shims/guides all in place? did you see any abnormal wear on the camshafts?
Did you inspect the oil flow while the engine cranks- oil from over the camshafts needs to hit every lobe.

Video sound quality can be misdirecting, you could be dealing with a bottom end issue, but over the internet it does sound [valve spring / guide /clearance / oil] related
with oil being the most important, we must ensure oil is getting where it needs to be.

[mk2mike]

Thanks a ton! Chances are I will be tearing it fully down and need to inspect cam fully and rocker arms. As its a for sire valvetrain issue

[mk2mike]

Well I pulled apart the head again, and actually inspected things a bit more thoroughly and found some odd wearing on my intake cam shaft. I'll take pictures in a bit

[mk2mike]

:barf:

Well I removed the cams from suspected side of noise. (intake cam)

and found a few items. I'm new to these cars but my cam looks work, rocker looks worn, cam journals are all gouged up.

But assuming noise is from rockers/cam mix...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/mikeyman/1038921b.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/mikeyman/9a2e5756.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/mikeyman/b8dc6ff0.jpg


Can I reuse the head or do the journals look too far gone? I would REALLLLLLLY like to save the head (on the car) as I am pretty sure the wear issue is due to my first issue i found (cam oiler feed line was cracked)

Maybe new rockers, and cams, journal caps and try to smooth out the head??

[Kingtal0n]

These engines have very tiny oil orifices, and if one tiny bit of shaved metal gets lodged into one of those orifices, there is a chance that the entire engine will need to be replaced. Even if you replace the entire head and valvetrain, who is to say that some bits of metal wont clog up oil flow and ruin another head? There is no way to get a warning when one of the cam lobes stops receiving oil, unless you pull the valvecover daily for inspection, and thats just what you can see.




If you wish to take the chance, then the damage to the head looks such that it should be replaced. Get a complete head with cams and rockers and guides and shims, do not dismantle it, just install the whole thing one time if possible. It is risky because of the oiling issue I mentioned, but its your only option besides replace the entire engine. If the engine is going to be trash anyways, you can try replacing just the rockers and camshaft/guide and see what happens, since it wont matter if it fails again if you are just going to replace it anyways. Trying to smooth the journal on the head without adding even more metal shavings to the oil is may be a challenge.... may require you to remove the head anyways... in which case I would just replace it regardless.


On the bright side, a longblock is not that expensive. You should be able to get a complete OEM bottom end + head assembly with reasonable mileage for about $1000. If you need help finding one, I am in florida, and I know a few shops with longblocks for sale around here, if that helps.

and yes. that cam, rocker, journal, went without oil for a while. there are bits of metal floating around in the oil now. Yes the filter probably caught alot of it, but some of it is still around, maybe a small pile in a deep recess of the block... to catch the metal, the pickup would have to grab it, which means it would have to be light enough to flow with the oil to the pan, and get picked up. A magnet in the pan might help catch some, but it wont catch the aluminum shaved off the head that now floats around. Your oil probably looks like "flake" paint.

[mk2mike]

Not sure if I said, but when I first inspected the head I found the oil squirter rail for intake cam (the line that sits above the cam) had a good size crack at the end of it. Which wasn't allowing pressure to build up and essentially "squirt", rather just flowed out the end of the rail.

Only reason I feel this is the problem is the exhaust bank was fine, and VERY smooth