loud ticking noise + no goes, valvetrain issue

[PaRaDoX]

howdy,

my car stopped working today, smoke all in the cabbin (oil burning off manifolds), and it felt like i was running on 5 cyclidners, apon investigation of the oil splattered all over my firewall i found the rear valley seal was blown to shreads, (seals inlet manifold)

that explains my oil leaks, i made the mistake of boosting into the crankcase ventalation for a single run... since then i re ran it to the airpipe, it was too late..

anyway thats not the most distrubing thing...

this ticking noise has been getting worse and worse over the last day..
its rpm based and is like COK-COK-COK-COK-COK, i put my hands on the injectors and cant feel them pulse / tick, could i have starved the heads and blown a headgasket??, or could of boosting into it blown one as crankcase ventalation goes right through there and as i remember the ACL gaskets dont have a metal seal round there... or could i have damaged some of the valve train???

the noise isnt comming from my air filter altho with the turbo its hard to tell as the intercooler piping could muffle it completely

all i know is now it dosnt drive well, it still drives just not well.. btw i did a full gasket set like 2 months ago (ACL VRS kit) so all seals like inlet manifold seals, valve stem seals, also did valve springs, cleaned lifters + rockers and i recently did a oil change, i used %100 synthetic 15W-50

oil levels still near full also

[pandaman]

Ticking, hmm, well there are a few possibilities, you've ruled out injectors, so other possibilites are lifters, (cleaning them doesn't mean they won't fail if they're old and worn) a leaky exhaust manifold or if it's particularly loud it could be another sheared rocker bolt (you had one of those a while back yeah?) Which would explain the not running well. A blown head gasket is unlikely to make a ticking noise unless you've blown it from the cylinder right out to open air which is hugely unlikely and from what I've read is most likely to occur due to boost and massive detonation. You haven't mentioned any pinging so once again, I doubt that's the problem.

[Boonz]

broken valve spring??? buicks have been known for breaking valve springs

[PaRaDoX]

ok jsut took it for a 20 meter drive, dosnt feel likes its lost much power just makes loud noise, i think the noise is comming from the blown seal...

ive got crow cam heavy duty valve springs 2 months old

a sheared rocker bolt could be a possibility

sounds more like PUK-PUK-PUK-PUK now.. it seems to drive alright just loud
and when u turn it on it nearly stalls (could be oil pressure tho)

also i found 2 dodgy metal clips on the injectors = loss of power fixed

should i take it for a run and see if it will boost? just to make sure its not suffering power loss???

[Boonz]

if the manifold seal is gone then nah i would fix it first before you go out driving again

[cruzncommo]

yes, you should.

[PaRaDoX]

jsut drove it, wouldnt stop stalling, could this be caused by oil pressure, and didnt hit boost also didnt even get to the speed limit

ill do the seal and take a peak at the rockers, maybe a rocker is loose..??? i lock tited them but who knows

[AirStrike]

jsut drove it, wouldnt stop stalling, could this be caused by oil pressure, and didnt hit boost also didnt even get to the speed limit

ill do the seal and take a peak at the rockers, maybe a rocker is loose..??? i lock tited them but who knows

Mate are you crazy!? One I wouldnt be driving it if it's broken and two are you telling me you have no oil pressure gauge?

[pandaman]

If your oil pressure is low enough to stall it, chances are the idiot light would be on. Also you'd wanna hope it's not low oil pressure stalling it, starved bearings being spun by someone trying to "boost" aren't likely to last long. I second what everyone else is saying. FIX IT before you attempt to **** it again. Fix the problems you know about, then see what happens.

[PaRaDoX]

i went out not trying to boost it but move it into the garage so i can work on it tommorrow, i ended up pushing it into the garage

now my question, could low oil pressure cause stalling?

yeah thats the plan, im gonna do the seal tommorrow and check rockers and see what happens and lifters

[Boonz]

its probably stalling from the huge vacuum leak from the busted seal in the manifold

[PaRaDoX]

thank you for a staight up answer boona,

but the valley seal dosnt connect to the inlet at all.????

can you buy that individual seal by its self???im gonna pop down to my local shop thats a ACL dealer and see if i can buy one by its self after tafe tommorrow, ill just cross my fingers and hope thats all

pandaman, idiot light? you mean oil light or just calling me a idiot ?:P btw i never attempted to spool it yet, just suggested the idea

as soon as it started playing up today i shut off the engine and got it towed home.(tow truck was a turbo diesel 6 and it had airbags, he dumped the rear end and raised the front.. it was gangsta). i figured better to be safe than try to limp it home

[pandaman]

i went out not trying to boost it but move it into the garage so i can work on it tommorrow, i ended up pushing it into the garage

now my question, could low oil pressure cause stalling?

yeah thats the plan, im gonna do the seal tommorrow and check rockers and see what happens and lifters

Well technically yes, but most likely not. An engine dry of oil will have a lot of resistance to rotaion, this could cause stalling. But if it's lacking lubrication so much that it stalls, you've got bigger problems than not being able to boost in your fully sick ride. Low oil pressure could also cause stalling if your fuel pump relay has shat itself, as you of course already know, the oil pressure switch doubles as a backup to turn on the fuel pump if the relay isn't responding, so if the fuel pump relay was shot and you had an oil pressure problem it is conceivable (not real likely though) that it would start and then stall but if this was your problem it would also be a bitch to start AND the oil pressure idiot light would be on. Is your idiot light on? If not then I doubt OP is your main problem, a gauge would confirm or deny this though.

Your plan sounds like a good start. Let us know how it goes.

[pandaman]

but the valley seal dosnt connect to the inlet at all.????

Not quite true, it's connected via the PCV yes?

can you buy that individual seal by its self???im gonna pop down to my local shop thats a ACL dealer and see if i can buy one by its self after tafe tommorrow, ill just cross my fingers and hope thats all

pandaman, idiot light? you mean oil light or just calling me a idiot ?:P btw i never attempted to spool it yet, just suggested the idea

Should be able to buy an inlet manifold gasket set fairly cheaply. Don't like your chances of getting valley seals separately, but hey, never know ya luck. Idiot light is a very technical term for the oil pressure light, so called because by the time that light comes on, it means you've got basically zero OP and you've ****ed up big time charlie. Been there done that. Anyway, I reckon boona's hit the nail on the head, replace that seal, check your rocker gear and see what happens.

[PaRaDoX]

yeah then my idiot light isnt on,

ahhh yes sorry i forgot about the PCV, makes sense now
cheers guys, ill give it a shot..

when i got my VRS kit it all came toghether, the place that sells them are incredibly cheap (authorised ACL dealer) its just a little cornershop, been there for yoonks, they'll probbly have something as they seem to beable to get anything for me

[14secvp]

pandaman nailed that one I think can you hold a bit of rag or something over the seal to try and seal it to see if it runs better.
Or temporaraly block of the hose to the pcv

[defa]

a bloke next door to my dads place has a big case tractor. and it did a big end bearing and they found that teh reason it did that was no oil pressure. there was a relaif valve or spring in the oil pump ws buggered and it was only giving enough oil pressure to turbo OFF the oil light. that is why theya re idiot lights.. no good at all. get a oil gauge. i have one on my car. not hooked up yet though. but all the wiring is there. just gotta mount it..

[PaRaDoX]

i had to buy the full ACL inlet gasket set $40 oh well when i build my new engine ill have some spares

[PaRaDoX]

ok need help once again,

replaced valley seal, runs better (probbly due to no vac leaks now)
but still makes the sound, im thinking sheared rocker bolt? i think ive identified the cyclidner its comming from, its like happening once every cycle so ill rip the rocker covers off and take a look

[pandaman]

ok need help once again,

replaced valley seal, runs better (probbly due to no vac leaks now)
but still makes the sound, im thinking sheared rocker bolt? i think ive identified the cyclidner its comming from, its like happening once every cycle so ill rip the rocker covers off and take a look

Sounds like a good move. Although a loose rocker shouldn't rattle once per rev, should be once every two yeah? When your first rocker bolt sheared, did you replace the lot? Or just the one that died?

[PaRaDoX]

just the one that died, i replaced it with a used part...

ok i checked the rockers on the drivers side bank where the sounds were comming from... cant find ANY evidence of damage....

also something weird
i took the oil level yesterday and it was right on full

i took it today and it was like 1cm over full... wtf?
but i got it into the garage which has more of a level ground...
the turbo requires extra oil but how much?? i might drain some, get it on full and see how it goes

[pandaman]

just the one that died, i replaced it with a used part...

ok i checked the rockers on the drivers side bank where the sounds were comming from... cant find ANY evidence of damage....

also something weird
i took the oil level yesterday and it was right on full

i took it today and it was like 1cm over full... wtf?
but i got it into the garage which has more of a level ground...
the turbo requires extra oil but how much?? i might drain some, get it on full and see how it goes

Oil levels are funny bloody things, everytime I chuck the front up on stands for any amount of time, the next day the oil level is down a bit, buggered if i know where it goes, but it's the only time it loses oil. Turbo shouldn't require too much extra by way of oil, it's not exactly a high volume system.

The ticking is worrying. I'd say check the rockers on both sides just to be safe, if they're not the problem then the only other possibility i can think of that doesn't involve fairly serious damage is a blown exhaust manifold gasket, or a loose exhaust gasket bolt, they can tick fairly fiercely if you just blow it on one cylinder.

EDIT: Just looked at something Boona mentioned earlier, have you taken a close look at the valve springs? A broken spring would make one mother of a rattle but might not be real obvious to look at.

[PaRaDoX]

yeah i was thinking exhust gasket, im gonna do the screwdriver test tommorrow just to listen and ill drain some oil

now my oil leaks are fixed i might see if it drives so i can rule out exhust gasket, because if it drives fine then its just a exhust leak... also i saw a bit of smoke/can smell it comming out of the engine... i think i still got my old exhust gaskets lying round somewhere, they were like 2,000km old

[PaRaDoX]

apon consulting gerogry (repair manual)

i think it might be a melted spark plug as i wasnt running less spark as i couldnt get my 2 bar working yet

[PaRaDoX]

baaah.. ripped leads off and turbo..

found 3 fouled leads.. the turbo gets bloody hot, rubber insulation gets fragile and leaks brake...

i need to get 3 custom leads made to take the heat

havnt started it yet but could that be the only issue??