Ok, the BlueDemon is having some more issues. We were replacing the transmission seal but we have discovered more problems. When the motor is running it has a horrible pecking noise. It sounded at first like a rocker arm completely out of adjustment. We tried to adjust the noise out and it wouldn't happen. We tried a set of brand new rockers and the pecking continues.

Also it is suddenly having oil pressure problems. It's a brand new pump, Canton standard volume standard pressure pump. When we were playing with the rockers it was holding good pressure at idle, around 25 psi. We thought we were going to drive it down the road, so we shut it off and put the valve cover back on. About 5 minutes later we start it up and it has almost no oil pressure at idle. It has some, and if you rev it up it will go up, but not like it should be.

As a side note, the pecking was not there when he parked the car because of his leaking tranny seal.

 

Nathan,
Was this a rebuild? :confused: If so, did you install new cam bearings? I have seen them improperly installed before and if so, it starves the engine for oil.

If this isn't a rebuild ~ then, did you check to make sure that the oil pump pickup hasn't fallen off?

Purp

 

It was a rebuild, the motor has 400 miles on it. At first the oil pressure was fine, this is just a new problem. I have not checked the pickup tube yet. Thanks for the info.

 

The noisey rocker might be from the low oil pressure. I had a fresh 383 with about 400 miles on it that I changed to synthetic oil and the oil pressure droped down to 10psi at idle. I took it home and pulled the pan to check the pump and pickup and found copper in the pan. My bearings went out for some reason unknown. One thing to check is if the pickup might be loose and sucking air if its the press on type and not welded on. You should also check the pressure with a regular oil pressure guage to make sure the cars sending unit or guage isn't bad.

 

Ok that sounds good. We are going to pull the pan and investigate the pump. He hasn't yet switched to synthetic oil. We had a thought about the pecking maybe being a lifter, possibly caused by low oil pressure. It SHOULDN'T be a bad lifter, they are new Comp Cams Pro Magnums, I guess it's possible that one quit. As for the oil pressure, it's an autometer gauge so I'm pretty sure it's accurate. Thing is I'm not sure it's a rocker, we replaced all of those, it sounds deeper than that, something internal.

I know a new motor is supposed to make a good deal of metal shavings, but it seems pretty excessive. Even after we changed the oil, what was being pumped up through the pushrods didn't look too healthy. My guess is that it was running alright and then something happened to the oil pump. Now the drop in oil pressure has caused some of the other problems. Would it be possible for a lifter to be clogged? A bunch of metal shavings get in there and screw it up maybe? Just to make it that much more interesting, the car runs great! Other than it's obvious banging noise, it doesn't try to stumble at all, it just idles away just fine. It seems like if ti was something in the valvetrain it would run pretty crappy.

I just hope it's nothing serious, this car has had so many problems, where do they all end? Eventually it deserves to just run. Everything was built with top quality components, callies crank, oliver rods, srp pistons, etc, etc. It's really enough to make you want to :U when you have this many problems. He actually offered to give me the motor today, too bad I don't want all of his problems, for the moment my motor actually works.


[Modified by Nathan Plemons, 8:30 PM 1/1/2002]

 

Have you truly traced down where the ticking is coming from?
If not, try this old trick. Find a piece of hose or tubing. Put your ear on when end while scanning the area the suspect the ticking to be coming from. You can pretty much narrow down exactly where the ticking is coming from this one.
Sorry not much help other than that. Much sure the ticking is not coming from the small front cover on trans.

 

On my 6sp car, the dust cover was hitting the flywheel on the starter side.

If you didn't pull the starter, the dustcover could be hitting the flexplate.

You'll see little marks on it.

 

Well that's a good idea but I don't think so. Mainly because the dust cover isn't on it.

On the listening for the sound, it's hard to pinpoint. I think it is coming from inside the block, like a lifter. I tried the old screwdriver to the ear trick on the passenger side valve cover, everything under there is just whirring away smoothly. I'm pretty convinced it's a lifter at this point. But any other suggestions are still welcome.

 

I dont know if the car is a auto or a stick but if you turn the bolts on the flex plate the wrong way it will make the noise what you are talking about, we had that happend to us when we had to pull a engine out one time, the person that put the convertor on had the head of the bolts facing to the back of the car and they were hitting just a little.
But that does not help you with your oil problem.

Hope this info helps a little.

Jay

 

It's a manual. Also it wasn't making any noises when he parked the car two weeks ago. It's the strangest thing, this guy has the worst luck. He had it towed home because it was running fine, except his seal on the rear of the tranny was leaking and throwing fluid everywhere, and he noticed the oil pressure had started to act up. He got it home and moved it far enough to get it into his garage. Then it sat there for a week.

A tranny seal and an oil change later we start with all the problems. I nice pecking sound that wasn't there the last time the car ran.

 

Along with all the normal things like bearings and oil pump, I would double check the lifters retaining plate. If one of the lifters gets disengaged from it's alignment plate, it will rotate, which will destroy the cam lobe it rides on and give the symptom of a bad tick, and can cause oil pressure to go away ( you seem to have an oil pressure problem too ).

 

If you changed the oil pump and didn't per oil the motor, i'd say you have a MAIN BEARING problem :(

 

Go to a swap meet, flea market, harbour freight, etc and pick up an engine stethescope. They are about 5 bucks. They are unbelieveable in finding noises like you are looking for.
GOOD LUCK, I hope you find it soon and it's not too bad.
Harold