knocking noise from sr20det

[blackmagic]

i have searched google yahoo zilvia.net and these fourms and cant find anything. everytime i look at a video of somones sr20det with rod knock it makes noises when at idle and all the way to red line. my sr is making a knocking noise only around 10-30% throttle. has anyone had this problem. also what should the oil pressure be at all around rpms? i have seen the idle is supposed to be around 20psi and thats what mine is but the gauge needle moves slow when u give it throttle. any kind of help would be greatly apreciated being im running this car as a dd and realy dont want to pull the oil pan to check on the bearings. If you need any more information let me know.. thankz guys and ill keep you posted if i find anything else. o and i just remembered i pulled the valve cover a few days ago and didnt see any kind of broken parts. im running stock turbo at 15lbs with a apexi neo 91 s13 sr20det redtop

[rb25xtc]

You have a mild rod knock at light load. This means at least one of your rod bearings is on the way out. The more/harder you drive, the louder and more persistent it will become until eventually you actually "spin" a bearing, causing damage to the crank.

I went through this with my '92 Sentra SE-R back in the day, and am starting the cycle over again with my SR'd '91 240 Coupe. I feel your pain.

[blackmagic]

would it be safe to just pull the oil pan and replace the bearing. or do i need to take the crank to a machine shop? and get all the measurments for the rod bearing thickness?

[Sabot]

It would be better and painless in the long run if you take the eng. out so you could better assess the situation. If you do take the eng. out replace everything and get it done right the first time and maybe upgrade

[blackmagic]

haha i hear that i would love to upgrade and upgrade the head to but thats more money i dont have anymore being im outa a job right now cause they shut my store down. anyone know of any good rebuild kits around with any kind of deals.

[blackmagic]

Alright so i had a guy that knows what knocking sounds like listen to my car and he said it cant be rod knock. he said i have been beating on it for 2 months and its not getting worse. the noise is to quiet. it only makes the noise when reving past 2500rpm and holding it steady it wont make the noise under acceleration. he said it could be a lifter. what do you guys think. ill try to get out there with my video camera and take a video and post it on youtube

[Hijacker]

We really need to hear it. It's impossible to diagnose something like that on words.

[jaco]

in the mean time i would dial back the boost a lil bit to be safe, 15lbs on a stock t25 is a bit much no?

[Tulsa_S-13]

in the mean time i would dial back the boost a lil bit to be safe, 15lbs on a stock t25 is a bit much no?

I really don't suggest running 15psi on the T25. It's out of its efficiency by then and will be nothing more then a heatpump. It also reduces the life of the turbo.

Ditch the Apex'i Neo while you're at it. Manipulating MAF voltage signals is NOT the way to tune.

Like Bart said, post a video.

[Spegt]

If is at light load and faint. Then it could be a craked ring land, thus causing the piston to slap. This is common on stock sr's running lots of boost. Its a bigger problem than a bearing(in my opinion) because instead of dropping a pan and replacing bearings, you have to tear the block down. But it wont create too much damage if your drive on it unlike a bad bearing. If I am right about the piston slap.....then while the car is at idle start unplugging coils. If the noise/knock gets louder when you unplug a coil then it is piston slap and that is the piston that is doing it.

[blackmagic]

alright guy calm down now. i said i will get a video asap. im not running stock turbo anymore i have a gt28rs running 12lbs. for now until i get injectors. and ill keep my neo but ill be getting a tuned ecu eventually. (spegt) ill try that thanks but i realy dont think its piston slap. piston slap usually makes noise at idle and a constant noise. this is quiet at idle and doesnt make noise under acceleration. ima go outside right now and get a video. and try to figure out how to down load it.

[exhsturbine]

this may or may not be your problem, but, just recently i had the same issue. it would only make that noise at low rpm. Only the "knock" wasnt at valve speed, or crankshaft speed. Nor did it have a really "deep" banging noise (yeah i know super descriptive noise adjectives hahah) like knock ive ever heard. either way, i pulled the engine, threw it on the stand, took the valve cover, manifolds, and every other part off, and when i went to flip the engine over, a very large piece of plastic fell out. i knew instantly what the plastic was from. A timing chain component. so the pan(s) came off and inside the steel pan was a lot of plastic debris. on the baffle plate there were lots of pieces laying on top of it (the engine was upside down now of course) and the pick up was clean. i removed the baffle plate and the aluminum pan and pick up. pieces didnt seem to have gotten past the baffle and pickup (but how do oyou know that until you check every orifice? you dont) anyways. i continue to flip the engine over, and back over, and more pieces fell out. now i dont know if, the timing chain guide being broken was what resulted from a bad bearing, or if it was only the timing chain guide. i havent been able to buy new timing chain sets and put it back together. but i can say, it makes alot of sense to me that that was the light noise i heard that didnt run at either crankshaft speed or valve speed. im gonna check the bearing surfaces from wear and such before it goes back in, but for now i have a feeling its only the timing components sorry for the long post , but i thought maybe it would give you and idea, cause it sorta sounds like mine.

[blackmagic]

alright well i just tried to upload a video but i guess i need a dv cable to do it all my video camera came with was a usb so ill try to get a dv cable tomarrow and upload the video. I tried unpluging each coil pack and nothing happens when any of them are unpluged other than it running on 3 cylinders but no noises. I realy dont think my chain guide broke off and fell inside there and is making the noise. this is realy making me upset cause i want to drift the damn thing but i dont want to f*** anything up doing it.

could a lifter make that noise iv heard lifter noise on most cars but u can usually hear it at idle to.

[duffman1278]

I believe if it was your lifters you'd hear more of a TICK sound then knock. That video would REALLY help though. If this isn't your dd, I would suggest you start taking out the engine. Might be best to fix the problem with as much minimal damage as possible, IF there is any.

[blackmagic]

i have a 91 integra also but i took the insurance off it cause im tryin to sell it. so this is my dd. but yeah Im not sure if its real a knocking noise or a ticking noise im trying to wait till rush hour is over so i can run to wally world and pick up the cord i need to download the video. ill get that thing up here asap. o and high duffman1278 your everywhere haha.

[blackmagic]

damn this thing i asked some guy at radio shack for a dv cable so i can upload a video to the pc and he told me i dont need one. he said the video is on the memory card.....but its not so im still tryin to figure this out. anyone know how to do this ????? o and its a jvc camcorder.

[ArcherV20]

lol...omg.

Just place the camcorder on your valve cover and step away from both. Slowly.

[duffman1278]

lol You need a FIREWIRE, I believe is the name of the cable, if you're recording off a video camera that uses cassette.

[blackmagic]

haha how about no.... i could never stop loving my s14!!! but I just got this damn video camera like 3 months ago and used it 3 times first 3 times using a video camera my hole life!!! so yeah im pretty dumb when it comes to that....and thanks duffman

[blackmagic]

Alright guys sorry for the delay I have been workin 9 hr days and havn't had a chance to upload it. Here it is though... o and I also bought a mechanics stethoscope and it sounds like the noise is coming from the top of the head at the front. Mabe a timeing chain guide but what doesnt make sence is I pulled the valve cover off last month and didnt see anything but then again I didnt know what I was looking for. Hope this will help you guys better understand what im talking about.

http://s154.photobucket.com/al...0.flv

o and sorry about the shaking the video was taken off a digital camera
Modified by blackmagic at 4:35 PM 9/12/2008

[blackmagic]

bump...

[duffman1278]

Thats most definitely not rod knock, so +1 for that but too me it sounds like it has something to do with the chain guide thats in between the cam sprockets. Try searching up on that guide because I know I've read about it before but don't remember.

[boro drift]

This might sound dumb, but check your alternator belt. Mine came loose on me one time and I swore it was in the topend, but upon closer inspection, the alternator had come loost and the belt was slapping. Sounded just like your vid.

[blackmagic]

(Boro Drift) did you read what I said I said the noise is coming from the valve cover so the alternator would not be doing that. but thanks anyways for tryin to help I appreciate it. But yeah i have been lookin up everything and i did come by someone talking about the chain guide but didnt pay any attention to it cause i thought i had rod knock. So now im gonna go search and search and then go out to the car and search. Do you think a lifter could make that noise. The only time I heard lifter noise was on my girls car and it was a constant tap at idle aqnd went away at higher idle I had to replace her lifter shims. Thanks guys ill get back here when i figure out whats wrong or if I need more help.

[Neil]

The timing chain wouldn't make that kind of repetitive clacking noise... If something with the timing chain system were going bad you would most likely hear it as a metallic rubbing or chain slack sound from the front of the motor behind the oil pump cover, since that's where the guides are. There's a guard between the cam sprockets under the valve cover but the chain doesn't ride on it so there's no good chance for it to make a sound there.

If it's coming from the top of the motor then I'd say it's pretty obviously something in the valvetrain, possibly a faulty lash adjuster. Unfortunately, seeing as how the lash adjusters are at the end of the oil supply chain, one going bad may be pointing to another problem with oil pressure. running the motor low on oil, a failing oil pump, or worst case scenario the crank main bearings getting out of tolerance and oil is gushing past them and back down into the pan instead of being forced up through the motor... but I would have to assume you'd hear rod knock way before you ever suspected the main bearings needed replacing.

[blackmagic]

the thing is its been this loud and hasnt changed sence it started which was like 4 months ago and i drive hard at least 1 time every week. im thinking its a valve my oil pressure is fine i have a gauge and it reads fine.

[Neil]

It may not be a lash adjuster, it may not even be close to being oil pressure related. Gotta take the cam cover off and start poking around. Don't be tempted to run the car with it off unless you love getting ridiculously messy.

[blackmagic]

yeah i know... I will never run the motor without a valve cover on haha i love my engine bay to much and doing clean up sucks ***! but yeah tomarrow morning im pulling the valve cover and gonna look around what should i look for do you have any idea? im gonna use my magnet and see if I pick any pieces up and ill look for cracks but is there any specific things to look for.

[Neil]

Check all the rockers for excessive play.. disconnect the ignitor and have a friend or one of your parents bump the key until the motor turns over just enough to get the cam lobes off of each rocker. If you can move them at all, I think that would be considered 'excessive'. That's where i'd start.. then study everything and look around closely for any irregularities by comparison. good luck.

[blackmagic]

or i can just rotate the crank with a 27mm socket. lol but yeah i get what you mean. Ill get back here when i get done. i gotta go to work for 2 hours so ill be back.