ive been messing with the timing lately tryin to get it just right and now the cold idle needs to be adjusted. when i first start the car it will run around 500 or 600 and makes a knocking sound, but not a constant one and the car acts like it will stall. when i rev it up past 800 the sound goes away. what could this be?

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87 305 5.0 litre 4 bbl
Black with gray trim almost done being rebuilt

 

I'm no expert, but.....
It sounds like a sticky lifter to me.
Perhaps at that idle speed the lifter is not getting enough oil to it and causing it to stick.
You mention that it is not consistant.
If the knock has a common repitition like ta ta ta tap and then is quiet and then ta ta ta tap again, it really sounds like a sticky lifter.
When you mention knock I immediately wanna think a main bearing has decided to leave, but it would not go away with higher idle rpms.

And it couls also be that the engine is labor knocking, but that would be really far fetched.

Again, I'm no expert.
Just trying to give you an idea of what it might be.

 

yea it could be just a lifter, i severely doubt its any bearings or anything like that because thats all brand new.


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87 305 5.0 litre 4 bbl
Black with gray trim almost done being rebuilt

 

My car does the same thing at idle, but i've never touched anything under the hood, beside oil changes, air filter, plugs, blah blah blah. If it is a "sticky lifter", how can you fix it?? I'm really no engine expert, be gentle. Oh, the car is a bird, tbi, v8 (of course) with 160,000 miles.

[This message has been edited by CamaroBoy (edited July 18, 2001).]

 

Somebody help me.

 

Answer this!!

 

well im not sure if the knocking sound im hearing was the lifters or not because this guy heard how my car was running and he said that the torque converter bolts might not be tight. But if you want to look at the lifters, pull of the valve covers and see if theres oil getting through in each valve. a haynes manual will tell ya how to pull them.

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87 305 5.0 litre 4 bbl
Black with gray trim almost done being rebuilt

 

my 87 camaro with a truck 350 does the same thing, people have told me its anything from a rist pin,cracked fly wheel,bad trans pump,main bearings,cam bearings, and lifters so i dont have a clue what it could be, all i know is that it seems like its getting worse when it does knock. But on somedays it wouldnt knock at all, the performance is still good with mine but the knock does get even worse if i advance the timing so what could this mean

 

Bad catalytic converter???

 

well we pulled the flywheel cover off the trans, and we found out that one of the bolts that holds the flywheel to the transmission was gone and the other two were finger loose.. very scary. we fixed that and the knock went away. but now just driving around for a little while a heard a bang underneath and the same thing is happening again.. anybody have any ideas as to why the bolts would keep falling off when we made sure they were tight.
thanks

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87 305 5.0 litre 4 bbl
Black with gray trim almost done being rebuilt