Hi all, I'm new to the forums

Ok to start it all off I bought my dream car of course a camaro. I wanted one from the 82-92 region and I ended up with a 1989 RS v6 2.8L automatic. I did a fair amount of work to the car. Painted it ( horrible job, but it works) put 2 12" subs in the back, new speakers, seat covers, new deck, new steering wheel, removed the spoiler. I also did some basic mechanic stuff. Oil change, oil filter change, fuel filter change, new air filters not k& n yet Lastly I washed out the entire engine bay with some engine bay cleaner and a garden hose, stupidly I did not cover any of the electrical circuitry, but the car seems to run fine. I did have to get my o2 sensor replaced because it caused the check engine light to come on however.

Anyway, now to my current dilemma. When my car was at the shop getting the o2 sensor replaced my mechanic started hearing a knocking noise in the engine. He thinks it is rod knock, however I think otherwise even though I have very little car experience. I started hearing this noise probably a day or two after I washed the engine bay, which is also around the time i replaced the fuel filter.

Here are two different videos of the sound. It gets louder if I drive the car for 20 miles and then listen for the sound. These videos are from cold starts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htukp_BBynE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZqQv5BFq0A

Also the enginge has 201K on it. Thanks for any and all help guys

 

Well the initial noise sounds like a small exhaust leak.
The high rpm noise is definitely a hard knock.
The big question is where and what...
Don't drive it hard and if avoidable at all til that gets cleared up.
Every knock is one more metal to metal impact doing damage internally.

Was there any fluctuation in the oil pressure?
A few red flags are that it gets worse as the engine warms up.
It means where ever the clearance issue is is only opening up and making the impact harder and more frequent.

What shape is the oil in now?
Is it possible any water made it into the crankcase after getting hosed off?

It definitely sounds like a rod knock...

 

Well i couldnt hear the videos my comps just not being very kind today but is it possable that you got water in the motor and that fried your bottom end? Now again with 200k it probably was on its way out anyways but im thinkin maby you got water in it. To really see if you have a rod knock though pull off one spark plug wire one at a time and see if the sound changes when you pull it off. If you pull a plug wire and the cound changed you have rod knock on that cylinder.

 

Best description is normal up to about 3k rpm then a rythmic metal on metal knock loud as could be and starts to quiet as he gets it up to 4k...

 

The first one sounds like rod knock. the second sounds like an exhaust leak. At 200+k miles I would say that the motor's future is kind of bleak. Water usually dosent hurt the o2 sensor as it is usually being splashed by water from the road when it rains. The good news is that if you are going to do an V-8 swap in the future, now you have an excuse. Also, if you want to keep a v-6 you can get them really cheap at the junkyard.

 

The second video was taken first so the car had time to warm up then the frist linked video was taken. Yeah after I drive the car the the oil pressure goes down....

When I changed the oil it was about 3/4 full which was 1000 miles ago. now it it about 1/3 and the car doesn't burn oil...

I supose it is possible that water got in not sure though.

Dang. When my mechanic was telling me about it he said it would cost about 1,000 to fix, rough estimate if it is the cranckshaft which I don't know if it is or not yet. How much would it cost to get a used engine from a junkyard and get it installed?

 

sounds like a rod knock in the first video... 1,000 for a new engine installed sounds like a good price if he was serious.. personally I'd pull that engine and tranny junk it and start a v8 swap.. but thats just me..

 

hows the oil pressure on the car sounds like it could be a spun rod bearing just a guess, I'm sure you could find a 2.8 or a v8 just about anywhere or you could tear it down and rebuild it yourself depending on how much knowledge you have on rebuilding engines and save a lot of money

 

No, it's not just you... My 427 LS-1 RS started life off as a v-6 car. when the tranny died, I swapped in the ls1.

If you are on a really tight budget, go to a junkyard, find a thirdgen that has been HIT. (Serious body damage usually means the engine/transmission were working at the time of the accident.) I dont know about your area, but in AZ at the "Pick-a part" yards, a complete engine/tranny/harness/ecm package is around 700.oo. You will need the fuel pump too. Your v-6 tranny will not bolt up to a v-8, so you will need this too. A lot of people on here will tell you to do it "the right way" and rebuild the engine before you install it in the car (I wont argue with that, I rebuild all my motors before I install them, but I also have 6 cars and can afford to have one sit for years if need be.) Yeah, it's a used motor, but so was the one in your car when you bought it!

 

Here is one after me driving about 20 miles, you may be able to hear this sound a little better than the last two.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdkiAk3BgcE

 

I ment just me meaning in my opinion, but if you wanted to take that litterly probably me u and 95% of the other members around here would do the same

 

Welp I think everyone is in agreement. And this last video sinches it. Prepare for an engine swap. One or more bearings are gone.

 

Dang... alrighty. Thanks guys.

 

LOL, that is what I meant!! Ha, ha! There are some guys who love the v-6. After 16 years of reliable service my 90 RS V-6 died. (Actually the motor was fine, it was just the trans!) 3 years of LS power and I'm not turning back to the 6....