Help! Take a listen to this engine noise

[cal318]

I'm getting an odd noise from the right (from driver's perspective) side of the engine. The attached MP3 was recorded in the engine compartment.

It it not the usual problem of broken/leaking exhaust manifold bolts. I've dealt with that one 3 times in the past and I'm only TOO familiar with that sound

Anyways, does anyone recognize this sound? Any suggestions?

Thanks for any help.

Vehicle: 1995 Pathfinder V6, gas, with 260,000 km.

[s13sr20chris]

whew, hard to say. def sounds really bad though. maybe something in the bellhousing hitting the flywheel. possibly a wrist pin(they sound like that). in the case of a wrist pin you can try killing individual cylinders by pulling the plug wire and see if the noise goes away.

[cal318]

Thanks for the advice. I pulled the plug wires for each cylinder and the noise did not go away. Of course the pitch of all whole engine sound changed a bit (stands to reason with one less piston firing), but the main ping/bang was still there. Well at least that's one possibility eliminated.

I'll keep troubleshooting.

[NISTECH]

pinch off the pcv fresh air hose for a couple minutes while its running and see if it goes away.

[NISTECH]

Where is it you have the mic? I just listened to it a couple times and if you mic is close to the valve cover that could likely be a collapsed lifter.

[tiger]

holy crap, that sounds like a rod bearing!!!!