Knocking VN Calais

[MzVNCalais]

Hey guys,

I hope you can help me, I've got a 1990 VN Calais series 1 motor...
Steering wheel has been vibrating for a while but i wrote that off as a wheel alignment, its leaking power steering fluid out the bottom somewhere, its burning on the extractors... But the main issue is, its had a loud knocking sound since saturday night just gone, sounds like a bearing or a tensioner pulley but i got no idea, its pretty loud u can hear it no matter where u stand around the car..

Has anyone had similiar symptoms? know what it is?

any help will be appreciated!

Chloe

[5speedcalais]

hey could possibly be ur harmonic balancer

[MzVNCalais]

not the harmonic balancer, i replaced that not long ago..

[88GreenVN]

Hey guys,

I hope you can help me, I've got a 1990 VN Calais series 1 motor...
Steering wheel has been vibrating for a while but i wrote that off as a wheel alignment, its leaking power steering fluid out the bottom somewhere, its burning on the extractors... But the main issue is, its had a loud knocking sound since saturday night just gone, sounds like a bearing or a tensioner pulley but i got no idea, its pretty loud u can hear it no matter where u stand around the car..

Has anyone had similiar symptoms? know what it is?

any help will be appreciated!

Chloe

The vibration can be 2 things - 1 wheel balance or related issue and the second is disk roto. The rotor is when you brake and the wheel vibrates.

The knock - does it happen on startup - all the time or when you change the revs?

[MzVNCalais]

yeah i was thinkin i warped a disc, i got vt brakes i dunno, i just gave that info to make sure it couldnt all be related...

the knock is on start up, i cant hear it when it rev's but it might still be there, its at idle tho u can hear it, it goes quiet, then it goes loud, it seems inconsistant

[PaRaDoX]

is the knocking only when moving driving????

could be a loose rocker if it does it on idle or something valve train related

the power steering fluid, dont know how it could possibly be leaking on the headers, maybe oil from the rocker cover???

now about your vibrations, this might sound silly but check your wheel nuts mate, you wouldnt believe how many times it happened to me...

[MzVNCalais]

hahaha yeah i'll check the nuts, didnt even think of it, and its happened to me before, thought i did my tailshaft, checked the nuts and it was all fixed...

I cant tell if the knocking is when im driving, cos get the car goin more then 1grand i cant hear anything else lol i know its at idle, it could be there more than that but i cant physically hear it cos the cars too loud

[5speedcalais]

is it a large knock or more of a ticking sound

[MzVNCalais]

its a big knock, sounds like something inside the block smacking around

[5speedcalais]

not the water pump or altinator

[5speedcalais]

get a stethiscope or a screwdriver and pace it to ur ear and put the other end on the altinator around the water pump or anywhere else the noise could be coming from it should amplify the sound then u know where it could be coming from better

[MzVNCalais]

that works?

i'll give that ago, i wouldnt think its the water pump, but im stumped on this one, i've diagnosed everything else in a heart beat, but this one has well and truely F***ed me!

[5speedcalais]

water pumps can get noisy but probably not just check anything that it could possibly be and let us know how u go

[MzVNCalais]

ok i'll go out to the garage now

[MzVNCalais]

water pump sounds fine, i could hear the water running thru, alternator seems fine, power steering pump sounds fine, tensioner pulley sounds off...
but the noise is so inconsistant, it went away for about a minute than came back for about 3 knocks then pissed off, and then came back, quieter and then louder and then not, there's no consistancy at all

[88GreenVN]

No oil pressure light? how old is the oil? blocked oil filter? some random thoughts...

[MzVNCalais]

cars serviced every 5000ks by myself, i know its not the oil, oil pressure guage is fine..

i'd say it was the tensioner pulley but its so random,there's no rhythm or pattern to the knock im starting to think something stuck in it somewhere and banging, nothing wrong with it lol but i cant see anything, i'll replace the tensioner pulley anyways, and see how i go, i work at repco i get them cheap as chips lol

[5speedcalais]

yer wel hope it works i got heaps of noises from my vn now i just dont worry bout them nemore lol

[MzVNCalais]

LOL well i like my VN, and i dont like it making noises, its definately driveable but my vn has always been and hopefully always will be mechanically a1..
spoke to a few mates today and had a look at it being awake... the tensioner pulley is definately rooted, im gonna go change it now, just wait and see if the knock goes away, but regardless the pulleys gone, so i'll let u guys know how i go...

[MzVNCalais]

well i just changed the tensioner pulley, as suspected it was stuffed, however its still knocking, it sounds louder underneath the car, all other pulleys seem fine...

I am so stumped

[Stewart1000]

whoever said something about oil pressure is probably on the mark
if its inconsistant... i'd say you have oil pressure problems.

heres a way to find out if its inside the motor.
drop the oil, catch it to reuse it whatever you want. go buy some really really thick kmart oil, put it in and see if it still makes the noise, let it warm up and check for a noise again. if its gone then its probably a big end bearing. rebuild time

if its still there and you want to put other oil back in, may aswell do this first, drain a bit of oil, 500ml or so. replace what you drained with diesel and run it for a week or 2, just cleans the motor out, may aswell do it if you already got shitty oil in it...

[MzVNCalais]

I have my suspicions, i'll be spending quite a bit of time on the car over the next few nights, fixing a few things up...
i'll let ya's know how i go with that.

[MzVNCalais]

ok changed the water pump, and did a major service, there's tiny little metal balls in the oil, the knock is still there...

do you guys think it may be the timing chain?

[vq_statss]

metal balls....sounds like bearings are chewd out thats bad i would say