engine rod knock!

[silverbullit05]

so this weekend took the g out for a ride. i did my routine checks oil level, antifreeze level and tires, power steering. then let my car warm up to operating temp just because i dont drive the car for weeks at a time in the winter. so i back out of my driveway and noticed after taking off in first that there was a funny sound at about 2200 to 3500 rpms. so drove around for about an hour then i got onto the highway again this sound still had not stopped. so after being on the highway for about 5 min i down shifted to 4th at around 60mph to past someone and s***fted at like 6000rpm. i got off my exit stopped at the light everthing seemed ok until the light turned green then o boy what a sound. this thing had like no power and was knocking like someone was railing my engine with a 5lbs sledge hammer. so i stopped at the gas station to check the oil well it was 3qts low i topped it off and drove it home but sound did not change.it seems to be a rod knock cause it gets louder and faster as rpms increase. those of you that work for infiniti please tell me what i should do? its a 2005 6mt with 28000 miles.
Modified by silverbullit05 at 1:42 PM 3/11/2009

[tollboothwilley]

Go to the dealer. Start the Oil Consumption test.

Driving that low in oil can cause very serious issues...

You said you check the oil level before you left, was it low then?

[silverbullit05]

before i left the oil was only slighty below the full line and after i herd the engine knocking it was down about 3 qts.

[pfarmer]

Go to the dealer. Start the Oil Consumption test.

Driving that low in oil can cause very serious issues...

You said you check the oil level before you left, was it low then?

He also stated he drove around for an hour with the sound, took it on the freeway, then took it up to 6k rpm.

Ouch!

It could have started out with a slight case of oil starvation due to a plugged screen due to sitting for example and escalated into a full blown engine rebuild due to continued driving.

Perry

[silverbullit05]

so i have brought my car back to the dealer after taking every mod except catback off. they told me that they where going to top off oil and noise should go away then for me to return in a 1000 miles. when he said this i laughed and he asked why i told him that i had already topped the oil of twice within less than 100 miles and even after topping oil off noise did not cease. he insisted he was right. but sent his senior tech to look at it w/ him instantly when they start the engine after topping it off the tech told the service writer the engine was shot. i yet laughed. they gave me a loner and said they call me in a few days. they said im getting a new engine. the tech said its the same one that is in the 07 coupe. but i think that is b/s. tell me what you think?

[tollboothwilley]

07 coupe still has the Rev-up motor not the HR

So, if you have the Rev-Up its the same engine as the 06 cars and the 07 coupes.

Glad to see you get a new engine. That should be nice.

[silverbullit05]

wow the tech had told me that the bottom end is the redesigned hr however the heads and intake are the same. but in any case im happy that they are warrentying it and im getting the new engine. i just hope this problem is fixed w/ the new engine. ill be pissed if this does not and it does this again out of warrenty

[tollboothwilley]

Ya, that would suck to go through 2 engines and be out of warranty when the replacement dies.

I doubt you'll have any problems though. Most people that have an engine replaced under warranty haven't had issues with the new engine that is put in.

Its my belief that Nissan knows what the problem was and they corrected that issue with replacements.

[silverbullit05]

wow the tech had told me that the bottom end is the redesigned hr however the heads and intake are the same. but in any case im happy that they are warrentying it and im getting the new engine. i just hope this problem is fixed w/ the new engine. ill be pissed if this does not and it does this again out of warrenty

[pfarmer]

wow the tech had told me that the bottom end is the redesigned hr however the heads and intake are the same. but in any case im happy that they are warrentying it and im getting the new engine. i just hope this problem is fixed w/ the new engine. ill be pissed if this does not and it does this again out of warrenty

Don't be surprised with the new engine doing the same if it ends up 3 quarts low and is run for an hour knocking with a run up to 6,000 rpm.

The reason question is how it got 3 quarts low on oil, not the fact that it blew up under those conditions.

Not saying the first part is your fault, however the second part should not be a surprise that it occurred.

Perry

[silverbullit05]

here is my point i have owned and beat several different cars vw, hondas, volvos turbod, subarus and the funny thing is i hammered harder on all those vehicals then i ever beat on my g. i used to race the honda every day w/ well over 100k on the engine and in the course of a 3000 mile period car only consumed 1/2qt and after placing oil catch i found that was where it had gone. and the volvo 850 turbo has a leaky turbo oil return line and only uses 1 to11/2qts in 3000miles car also has 190000miles w/ original turbo. so my point is all my other vehicals are not only 4 or more yrs older than the g but the g only has 28000 miles and has been hardly beat on compared to the older cars not to mention burning 3 to 4 qts oil in less then 100 miles that engine should not burn a fraction of that in 3000 miles so the point is car has 7200 rev limiter i was 1200 rpms below that car should not knock. and it funny how its only 05 and 06 6mt engines that have this issue. when i asked the 07 coupe didnt have any problems supposedly. for a car that cost 10 to 15 grand more than most other cars ive owned i expect better quality. 40 gs is not exactly pocket change. however 07 sedan w/ hr engine is awsome not only is the car faster then all coupes but its much heavier. and no problem consuming oil. put it this way powertrain warrenty is 70000mile i will make sure the new engine does not used abnormal amount of oil as soon as it starts it will go back and i will get a lawyer. seeing the class action lawsuit is still pending.

[tollboothwilley]

I disagree with Perry.

I think that you had a legit issue. I have 135K miles on my car and I romp the thing all the time. It just happens that you got a bad engine. If you can't take this car to redline then redline shouldn't be there. Sorry you got a bad engine, but the new one shouldn't have any problems.

[silverbullit05]

yea im hoping that all is good w/ the new engine cause i love my car.

[pfarmer]

I disagree with Perry.

I think that you had a legit issue. I have 135K miles on my car and I romp the thing all the time. It just happens that you got a bad engine. If you can't take this car to redline then redline shouldn't be there. Sorry you got a bad engine, but the new one shouldn't have any problems.

Three issues I have with this comment. One is you are a little bit low on oil at the start. You have a funny sound and drive around for an hour with the sound. With the sound still present you then downshift into 4th at 60 mph (what is the rpm in 4th gear at 60 mph?) and then you take it up to 6000 rpm and maybe above (what is the speed at 6000 rpm) which depending on location means probably exceeding the posted speed limit and possibly falling into the criteria of warranty exclusion (racing of any sort) which is a broad enough term for possible inclusion of a warranty exclusion. Now with low oil level you refill your oil but the sound doesn't change, so we drive home with the sound still present. Don't know about your warranty, but did you think about towing it home at any point during this time period?

So is any of this criteria for denial of a covered warranty item? If Infiniti denied repairs would a reasonable person in a legal proceeding side with them?

Perry


Modified by pfarmer at 5:16 PM 3/29/2009

[pfarmer]

here is my point i have owned and beat several different cars vw, hondas, volvos turbod, subarus and the funny thing is i hammered harder on all those vehicals then i ever beat on my g. i used to race the honda every day w/ well over 100k on the engine and in the course of a 3000 mile period car only consumed 1/2qt and after placing oil catch i found that was where it had gone. and the volvo 850 turbo has a leaky turbo oil return line and only uses 1 to11/2qts in 3000miles car also has 190000miles w/ original turbo. so my point is all my other vehicals are not only 4 or more yrs older than the g but the g only has 28000 miles and has been hardly beat on compared to the older cars not to mention burning 3 to 4 qts oil in less then 100 miles that engine should not burn a fraction of that in 3000 miles so the point is car has 7200 rev limiter i was 1200 rpms below that car should not knock. and it funny how its only 05 and 06 6mt engines that have this issue. when i asked the 07 coupe didnt have any problems supposedly. for a car that cost 10 to 15 grand more than most other cars ive owned i expect better quality. 40 gs is not exactly pocket change. however 07 sedan w/ hr engine is awsome not only is the car faster then all coupes but its much heavier. and no problem consuming oil. put it this way powertrain warrenty is 70000mile i will make sure the new engine does not used abnormal amount of oil as soon as it starts it will go back and i will get a lawyer. seeing the class action lawsuit is still pending.

So the question is..............would you win your case? Well based on this statement about your use of their loaner, would a reasonable person also believe this may be the cause of the engine failure of yours?

"so last night took the loaner car out to beat on a little since the damn dealer has had my 05 coupe for 10days to replace the engine for that oil consumption issue. anyway took the sedan down to where everyone races and there was an sti, and a few 350z i told them i would race all of them."

The issue isn't so much that you took it to 6k rpm, unless you exceeded the posted speed and maybe it could be construed that you were racing, but that you did so knowing that the engine had an unusual sound even at lower rpms and you drove it for an hour..

The point is that new engine could easily fail at that rpm under the same circumstances, low oil, high rpm.

Could you have mitigated an issue that wasn't the fault of Infiniti, for example a plugged oil pump inlet due to the vehicle sitting. Again maybe a somewhat minor issue not the fault of Infiniti progressed into an avoidable full engine replacement.

Perry

[silverbullit05]

here is my point i have owned and beat several different cars vw, hondas, volvos turbod, subarus and the funny thing is i hammered harder on all those vehicals then i ever beat on my g. i used to race the honda every day w/ well over 100k on the engine and in the course of a 3000 mile period car only consumed 1/2qt and after placing oil catch i found that was where it had gone. and the volvo 850 turbo has a leaky turbo oil return line and only uses 1 to11/2qts in 3000miles car also has 190000miles w/ original turbo. so my point is all my other vehicals are not only 4 or more yrs older than the g but the g only has 28000 miles and has been hardly beat on compared to the older cars not to mention burning 3 to 4 qts oil in less then 100 miles that engine should not burn a fraction of that in 3000 miles so the point is car has 7200 rev limiter i was 1200 rpms below that car should not knock. and it funny how its only 05 and 06 6mt engines that have this issue. when i asked the 07 coupe didnt have any problems supposedly. for a car that cost 10 to 15 grand more than most other cars ive owned i expect better quality. 40 gs is not exactly pocket change. however 07 sedan w/ hr engine is awsome not only is the car faster then all coupes but its much heavier. and no problem consuming oil. put it this way powertrain warrenty is 70000mile i will make sure the new engine does not used abnormal amount of oil as soon as it starts it will go back and i will get a lawyer. seeing the class action lawsuit is still pending.

[pfarmer]

here is my point

I think we have already seen this pointed out, my point being that if you race the G in any way, it is one of the exclusions contained in the warranty, and just one of the exclusions that could prevent you from getting it fixed under warranty.

Perry

[silverbullit05]

well its funny how you dont own the model yrs that have the consumption issue but yet you act as if you never had ur car rev'd over 4grand. you cant tell its never happened because the hr motor revs extremely fast even w/ automatic and my wife had drivin the loaner and she drives like grandma never goes faster then she needs to and she had the automatic shifting near 4grand not realizing it. and as to my 05 coupe car has never ever seen rev limiter since ive had the car. and never ever drag raced the car. yes the car has been over the speed limit how ever the average person in my does 55 or 65 on the highway well lets just say everone is honking. besides on average i only do between 70 to 75mph on highway. what r u anyway a specialist on being a absolute perfect driver? tell me you never went over a 25mph speed limit. if that is the case and you do 25mph thats good for you however chances are you have broken that limit at 1 time so by ur term race that would mean everyone who has gone faster than 25 in a 25mph zone is racing. so lets void everyones warrenty on ur broad term "race". ok and as to my complaint i am a mechanic i have r&r engines in vehicals without lifts or air tools. and the hardest 1 i have done still took me less than 16 hrs to complete. tomorrow will make 14days. i understand 5 to seven days however 14 thats b/s. yes rentals are nice however i had plans to go away for the week w/ my car and cant. so fact is oil was maybe 1/16th qt low when i left my house in terms you may understand just below the full line. oil plugged screen well this is possibly ill give you that however ive had the car for 8000 mile and the oil has been changed 3 times by dealer so if its plugged then it their fault not mine oh yea i had the records to show it too. and as to your warrenty b/s i did not purchase the car from infiniti but a chevy dealer i had no clue that there was a factory warrenty still on the car. so i had purchased the extended warrenty from the deal i bought it from. when i had herd a noise similar to the 1 i herd this time i took it to chevy to cover it under the extended warrenty thats when i found that there was a tsb on flywheel and transmission and that extended warrenty was useless cause there was still a factory warrenty. yes i pissed money away on the extended warrenty. and i assumed that it was the same noise this time. however when warrenty was done that time chevy had sublet it to another infiniti dealer which this time when i called chevy they said to just take it to infiniti. i do see your point however if this problem was with 5 maybe 10 vq35de engines and they were beat on day after day then i could see your point however this is not just limited to racer its a none issue amongst many rev up engines. the same time i was droping my car off some older man late 50's was there doing a consumption test and you know he took the car to dealer all the time so mine is not the first case of this and it will be far from the last. and as to your wise comment about the new engine knocking with 3 qts low. im going to be going through the breakin period better than the 1 stated by them i will drive the car under the 3 to 3500 rpm range they gave me and extending the breakin milage to 3000miles w/ 2 oil changes. and verying speed. then after 3000 miles i will bring rpms no higher than 5000 until the next 3750 oil change recommended by infiniti. i f the engine uses oil when properly boken in there is an issue. and no matter what you say an engine should never burn 3 qts oil in a 65 mile run. even high reving drift cars and high compression engines use less than that after repeated pounding. and the fact that engine had noise with oil full engine is garbage. i agree if new engine is improperly broken in and beat on repeatedly and starts using oil do to oil rings are not seated properly then it would be my fault however i purchased car with 20000 miles on it and how am i supposed to know how car was broken in. so if i could be like you and afford to by the good hr engine car that didnt have these issues i would. and yes if engine uses any quantity of oil between after the breakin and the end of warrenty i will bring it to the dealer every day. oh how many other cars do you no drink 3qts oil in 3000miles and its normal? get real perry!!!!!!!

[pfarmer]

well its funny how you dont own the model yrs that have the consumption issue but yet you act as if you never had ur car rev'd over 4grand. oh how many other cars do you no drink 3qts oil in 3000miles and its normal? get real perry!!!!!!!

Real is not to drive for over an hour knowing you have engine noise, then passing someone at high rpms under thiese conditions then pinning the failure on an engine part defect when the real problem may easily have been something like a plugged oil pickup which is an easy to fix issue and probably would occur in almost any vehicle under the same environmental issues.

The point being is that it would matter little if the engine was out of a VW bug or a Ferrari. If you had a plugged oil pickup and you continue to run the engine for an hour with noise present indicating a degree of oil starvation, and you also take it even higher rpms, that an engine failure is just plain going to happen.

Now assume the oil pickup was plugged. Did Infiniti cause the pluggage? Well that could actually be the case if too fine of a pickup is used. However i doubt that is the case and even then the owner should mitigate an issue once they are aware of it.

As far as using 3 quarts in 65 miles you can go through a quart or so in half a mile if you have plugged return passages at high rpms. Of course you should notice this as your car will start stinking fairly quickly and you will be driving down the road with a nice plume behind your. If you are burning oil at a high rate, well your rear view mirror may be a good indication of that problem as well.

Now if you have a plugged pickup and your flow is limited by it, then your wear will rapidly increase and oil consumption of 3 quarts could be as fast as the time it takes to blow a hole through the block.

When it comes to warranty repairs under possible exclusionary events it matters little that you did not know it had a warranty or have not read the fine print. Now how fast is 6000 rpm in 4th? As far as not having any vehicle I have had over the last 41 years of driving, yep had several over 6000 rpm, but I have had none of them over 6000 rpm that were making unusual sounds. I did have one 53 Plymouth at 90 mph and somewhere around 4000 rpm that I then backed way down on when a sudden bang was heard (dam cowl vent).

One benefit of the older rigs is when you did beat them the dealer didn't have the opportunity of reading about it online nor how their loaner was being treated..

Perry

[silverbullit05]

well finally have picked up my car from dealer. when i asked what took so long they adverdantly told me that infiniti required them to tear down the bad engine to find out cause of failure. tech that i had to deal with cause now the car doesnt shift into 5th gear. yet another issue but anyway tech told me that it was not anyones doing however as you refer to in your previous statements about plugged pickup i really felt you made a reasonable gripe so i asked the tech if the pulled the oil pan he told me yes i asked out of curiosity if it had a plugged pickup he told absolutely not even a spec of crap on that screen. the other question i asked him was was the crankcase breather venting properly and thats when he asked me why all the questions. i replied that i was concerd cause i wanted to no if i could have prevented it in anyway. the answer straight from him was if i drove the car with fresh oil and changed it at regular intervals and maintain under 2500rpm at best it would have just prolonged this problem. hes the noise i herd when i started the car that morning is probly the contributing factor because he also enlightened me when he told me if the car sits for a few days then is started the engine has a period where not much oil is on the bearings for a couple seconds. however i was told i could not have changed any of the effects of that it was just a engine flaw. so all of your theory are WRONG! and wether i brought to the dealer when noise started or when i did the engine was going to need replacement. again i dont care that you have drivin a car for 41yrs doesnt make you an expert on oil consuption. and you never answered my question what other car manufacturer assuming engine broke in properly uses 1 qt oil every 1000 miles? do a search and the answer will be none! i have a lot of friends that work in dealerships that change oil and hondas, bmw even high compression e46 engine , mazdas and some others never had such an issue. i do know for a fact that there are many cars that use a small amount of oil like 1/2 to 1 qt in 3000 to 4000 miles in mostly city driving. but never 1qt per 1000miles. i bet if you went to every dealership near you and did a poll on oil consumption nissan and infiniti are the 1s with the issue.

[pfarmer]

. hes the noise i herd when i started the car that morning is probly the contributing factor because he also enlightened me when he told me if the car sits for a few days then is started the engine has a period where not much oil is on the bearings for a couple seconds. however i was told i could not have changed any of the effects of that it was just a engine flaw. so all of your theory are WRONG! and wether i brought to the dealer when noise started or when i did the engine was going to need replacement. again i dont care that you have drivin a car for 41yrs doesnt make you an expert on oil consuption. and you never answered my question what other car manufacturer assuming engine broke in properly uses 1 qt oil every 1000 miles? do a search and the answer will be none! i have a lot of friends that work in dealerships that change oil and hondas, bmw even high compression e46 engine , mazdas and some others never had such an issue. i do know for a fact that there are many cars that use a small amount of oil like 1/2 to 1 qt in 3000 to 4000 miles in mostly city driving. but never 1qt per 1000miles. i bet if you went to every dealership near you and did a poll on oil consumption nissan and infiniti are the 1s with the issue.

Infiniti is actually very high on the reliability list. The facts seem to be that he could tell you that you did not have a plug inlet, but he couldn't tell you what did cause the problem. The idea of a plugged crankcase breather wasn't even in the equation I mentioned, oil return paths were. Did you tell them that you drove it for an hour like this and also did a fairly high speed run? Did you mention that you probably race this car just like you do their loaner. As far as 1 quart in 1000 miles, I be there are alot of cars that are raced and used more than that amount.

As far as no oil in certain parts at start up, well that is possible and one reason why those that do race often use pressurized oil systems to prevent it.

Good luck, but if your new engine ends up 3 quarts low for any reason, and you run the engine up to 6000 rpm with a pre-existing noise and you are not given another engine, then don't be surprised.

Perry

[silverbullit05]

you are retarded!! ok i would understand your race theory if it was just my car that this problem has happened to however many g35's with 6mt have had engine transplants not just mine. i was told the dealer i had my car to had 15 warrenty engine replacement claims for the same oil consumption issue and if you tell me that all those are race related again your retarded. it is a common issue for g35 yrs 05 to 07 rev up engine backed w/ 6speed trans. and why would there be tsb if this was only happening to 1 or 2 even call it 10 cases of this happening they would not be doing a consumption test tsb. so i think it is obvious that this is a consistant problem wether the cars are raced or not. this is fact! they are failing do to poor design. redline doesnt start until 7000rpm so the car should be able to safely rev the car to 6000rpms with no issue. the fact that the my engine was making a slight noise when i started driving in the mourning sound seamed as if it was the normal sound of the trans and thats why i didnt think it had anything to do w/ the engine. if the oil had been considerably low when i checked the oil that mourning i would have not revd to 6grand. you have logical explanations if i was only 1 case of engine failure but being that there is many failing you need to argue a different angle. not 1 person that has 1 of these models would be happy when they never had beat on the car and it starts using oil in large quantities. especially if they had to go back to the dealer every 1000 mile to add 1 qt oil. again you have good points just not and this problem. and just for the record when i got the car back the trans has a problem going into 5th gear so i took car immediately back and the tech had me go for a ride in the car and funny thing was i was told dont rev engine over 4000 and he was ramping it up to almost 5500 that had me a little pissed but he said it would hurt it. but im getting new trans to cause come to find out when they reinstalled engine something got bent.

[pfarmer]

you are retarded!! ok i would understand your race theory if it was just my car that this problem has happened to however many g35's with 6mt have had engine transplants not just mine.

and just for the record when i got the car back the trans has a problem going into 5th gear so i took car immediately back and the tech had me go for a ride in the car and funny thing was i was told dont rev engine over 4000 and he was ramping it up to almost 5500 that had me a little pissed but he said it would hurt it. but im getting new trans to cause come to find out when they reinstalled engine something got bent.

I never said the others were caused by actions that may be construed as race related or not taking mitigating actions when a noise is present. However one is sure sounding more and more that way.

As far as the dealer ramping it up to 5500, maybe that engine is not as new as you think it is. Question was it already knocking at around 2500 rpm when he decided to take to it 5500 rpm?

As far as possible problems with engines in manuals versus autos, maybe the flaw has to do with piston slap, more likely to occur on a manual.

Perry

[silverbullit05]

the dealer was ramping the engine just installed with no miles on it. not my old knocking engine. so i would say if he was beaten on the new engine with no miles and not concerned it would cause an issue then obviously they must have fixed the oil issue. however that was not the way i wanted to start the break in period. especially when they told me not to exceed 4000 rpms. so now if the new engine fails im sure you will say it was cause i beat on it. and i have drivin car 120 miles and have not even brought it up close 3000 rpms. i will however after i hit 1200 miles will start verying rpms to the 4500 rpms.

[pfarmer]

the dealer was ramping the engine just installed with no miles on it. not my old knocking engine. so i would say if he was beaten on the new engine with no miles and not concerned it would cause an issue then obviously they must have fixed the oil issue. however that was not the way i wanted to start the break in period. especially when they told me not to exceed 4000 rpms. so now if the new engine fails im sure you will say it was cause i beat on it. and i have drivin car 120 miles and have not even brought it up close 3000 rpms. i will however after i hit 1200 miles will start verying rpms to the 4500 rpms.

You missed the point. The newly installed engine is new to your car, are you sure it is truly a 'new engine'?

If you feel like he was beating it, then I would definately document that with Infiniti.

What you can be sure of me stating is that if you have an existing engine noise and end up 3 quarts low on oil and rev it to a high number then the new engine stands a good chance of failing. If any activity that you participate in can be viewed as fitting the broad category of 'racing' you should not be too surprised if you do not get another one replaced under warranty.

Did you miss the part about piston slap? When they tore you engine apart what did they find as the initiating failure event? It would be interesting to know if this is really a manual transmission related event.

Perry

[silverbullit05]

honestly i never considered piston slap. it sounded to much like a rod knock however come to think about it im curious. so i have googled infiniti and nissan vq35de engine issues and i found several interesting causes of failure but the 1 that came up the most was piston ring failure especially on the first year of rev up engine and the symptoms where said to sound like a rod knock. now i wish i would have done a compression test before bringing it in. now as to my new engine its brand new. not reman or used. how i checked is inspecting all areas of the engine and comparing them to the intake plenum which was swapped all aluminum was shinny and not at all weathered i took the upper half of my plenum to my buddys shop where they clean and recondition pitted aluminum and even now the engine still looks better now i cant say they didnt replace block, heads, timing chain cover, but why would they waste the time to do that. plus engine is sluggish and does not feel like its been broken in. i hope if they did replace it w/ a used engine that it had been completely rebuilt. but even if it is not im going to trade it in as soon as they fix the transmission issue. im going bmw m3 or even a used viper cause this infiniti regardless beat on or not had had record of many other warrenty replacent before i got the car not to mention the rear seat cabin where poping out before i got the car the dealer fixed them but they keep poping out and i never even had anyone in my back seats. transmission was replaced pryor to me owning it and radio also. then trans and flywheel replaced 2 weeks after i bought the car. and i only put 60 miles on it bought the car with 20000 miles. so i think its time to get rid of it. i love the car but not the problems if i wanted issues i would have bought a american general motors car that will spank my car. neon srt 4. i wanted quality and got junk. but i still like the new g37x that i drove while waiting for my car to be ready. seemed better quality and had the better vqhr engine

[pfarmer]

honestly i never considered piston slap. it sounded to much like a rod knock however come to think about it im curious. so i have googled infiniti and nissan vq35de engine issues and i found several interesting causes of failure but the 1 that came up the most was piston ring failure especially on the first year of rev up engine and the symptoms where said to sound like a rod knock. now i wish i would have done a compression test before bringing it in. now as to my new engine its brand new. not reman or used.

Neon srt 4 General Motors? Reading about all of the problems you just mentioned with this particular car before you purchased it sounds like the car was a failure ready to happen. Whatever you purchase you better consider obtaining all of the maintenance records including a Carfax.

As far as the 'new' engine in your 'G' depending on how it was replaced it is possible that it could be a pulled engine out of another car. It matters little how clean it may look. I purchased some Toyota replacements in the 70s based on how niced they looked at various wrecking yards. In the Toyota case you could tell their were pulled units since they were pulled out of cars with a few differences such as different manifold locations (these were 4 bangers) and reversed oil pans (oil pickups were reversed front to back). Otherwise some of these looked absolutely new. It is not unusual in some locations to pull engines out of totalled cars that have been in wrecks that we would have repaired here. I don't know if this still occurs on this scale but I believe it most likely does. Some warranty (extended warranty for example) often replace with used parts.

A friend of mine not long ago lost the transmission in his Suburu. He was given two options on replacement, one with low miles which he had to add several hundred bucks to or another with much higher miles for basically no additional charge. He went with the low miles.

What is this about the rear seat cabin popping out?

As far as piston slap, it will sound a lot like a rod knocking. It may not show up on a compression check. In its early stages it should quiet down after the engine is run for a short time. If you hear ticking on startup shut it back down after a very short time after you get its location pinpointed (which piston). Take the spark plug out, put a little oil in the hole, restart. did the noise basically go away? If so you have piston slap.

Every engine with a few design exceptions has piston slap to some degree. Performance engines can be prone to it because of a piston designed to eliminate mass. As far as mitigation, depending on engine design, it may be possible to fix an engine with piston slap without a full rebuild if done early and if the piston can be pulled easily.

Earlier I mentioned a pressurized oil system for startup. This brings up for the rest of us the need to maybe (some debate here) use a quality oil filter just for the reason of piston slap. This has to do with oil drainback. A lot of manufactures right or wrong will claim that an inproper oil filter may have caused the failure by allowing the engine to run with reduced oil capacity during startup when piston slap is most pronounced (you just changed your oil correct). Some experts don't agree, others do. I feel the manufacturer may well win if a poor filter could have been proven to be in use. So my suggestion is to always use known quality filters and keep the documentation that you did (and quality oil of course).

The reason I mentioned the difference in manual versus auto is that a more rapid change in engine rpm (up or down) and engine loading is typically possible in a manual especially in the hands of non-professionals who are not well versed in engine preservation under conditions such as track racing.

Perry

[silverbullit05]

the panel is located on the on driverside rear panel that covers the area from the window to the seat. it has been popped in by dealer and me and just doesnt stay.

from the way you described the sound, my engine im sure had piston slap then. well i have done a car fax request on my car eventhough they did it and it checked clear however the car was leased before i bought it. it never showed any issues with the car except some stupid undetailed info on warrenty issues. so i probly got a lemon.

i figured buying a used lease vehical it be better then buying a car that had multiple owners.

[pfarmer]

i figured buying a used lease vehical it be better then buying a car that had multiple owners.

Not necessarily true. It is not unusual for those with a lease to only do what is absolutely necessary to full fill the requirements of the lease. For example since they know they have enough tread on the tires why purchase new ones? Why worry about other issues such as running the car through salt water and not rinsing if you are going to turn it in anyway?

Why drive it like you are going to keep it for 100 k or more miles when you are going to get rid of it at 20k? When you say lease you didn't means something like a rental car agency such as Hertz?

Perry