73 454 - engine noises
Thread Starter
3rd Gear
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: Oakland Park FL
73 454 - engine noises
I had been driving my 454 coupe for about 2 hours on a nice road trip across Florida on I75 yesterday evening at a good clip 70-80 mph when upon slowing down due to traffic to about 30-50 mph I noticed a loud clicking/clacking sound coming from the underside of the car. Not sure exactly where it was coming from though. I had not run into/over anything...after a short while - 5-10 minutes - it appeared to go away. Just wondering if a serious problem might be at hand. The car shows about 46k on odometer, I'm sure it's 146k..seems to run pretty well still and has been well maintained. The a/c was not on either. Has anyone experienced this before and know what it could be ?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,340
Likes: 2
From: Moro IL
It's possible after driving at higher speeds for a long period of time your engine oil was probably very hot, especially if you run a fairly steep gear 3.55 or better. As oil gets hot it thins, this combined with any sort of excess engine clearance and you'll get a knock. If you go to a higher weight oil and the problem doesn't return or improves, then this was your cause.
Pat Kunz
Pat Kunz
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,838
Likes: 10
From: Austin TX
You might pull the flywheel inspection cover (or some call it the dust cover),..see if something got loose. Had this happen on a 69 Camaro I had purchased,..and as soon as removed the cover part of a starter shim fell out,..not sure how it got in there, but it was a twisted mass that made a lot of noise.
