Hi, a couple of days ago, I had a local shop replace the intake manifold gaskets on my '88 Firebird. I had to drive it on the highway the next day and I heard a loud pop and ever since then it's been making a very loud knocking noise when it gets warm. Now the reason I needed the gaskets replaced is because I had a strange coolant leak, and I eventually found puddles of coolant sitting on the near the intake, and because of that my car would overheat if I stayed past 2k rpm's for a long time. My car started overheating even though I had the gaskets replaced, when it made the loud pop. Also upon getting the car back, my cruise control no longer works and I found several hoses just disconnected, so if anyone had any information on how the hoses go or a diagram of some sorts, that would be awesome. But does anyone know what could be leading to this knocking? It gets louder as the revs go up, and it is making my car sound horrible! Any help please?

 

Wow thats a tough one. Sorry to hear that. Knocking is never good. I wonder if they dropped something down in there. My suggestion would be to drain the oil and see whats in it? Any metal shavings or parts? It could be several things. Its hard to say without getting inside there and looking.

Kevin

 

So you think it's something with the drivetrain? I was hoping it wouldn't be anything big... I'll check the oil asap

 

yeah check the oil, possibly valves or rockers

 

Yea-check the oil for signs of water.

Did they do an oil & filter change?

As far as vacuum hoses & attachments,I can't help ya. All I have is the 1 for the distributor. Someone will be of more help on that.

Have you contacted the shop about this?Any shop worth it's salt would check things over b4 the car leaves the garage & check things over if you have problems at no xtra charge!!! If they find something unrelated to the work they did,they should inform you of such.

 

Good point, did they do an oil change, but if he's been driving it and still overheating then that would of ceased the engine I think by then but who knows but definitely check the oil for water in system or if there's any oil at all>

 

True- what I was trying to get at was--
if they didn't change the oil & filter, then it should be done right away to verify clean oil without water.

I would suggest not starting the car until he talks to the shop to see what they want him to do.

Someone there screwed up by not finishing the job!! Maybe they overlooked or forgot something but IMHO they didn't complete what they started & now this guys motor is f'n up!!!

But yes I do agree 100% with you!

 

Well I went back there already and they told me that they didn't connect one of the coolant hoses properly, so I thought it was good, but after driving around, the knocking was still there. They replaced my oil filter and my oil leaks so I usually have a fresh batch of oil in there every month or so.


Also I wanna add that, even though my car runs right now, whenever it gets warm, if I go past 2k rpm's, it sounds like it's working too hard, and it feels like it'll explode. The car vibrated before, but it feels like it vibrates even more now.

 

Do you have another shop you can contact? Knock is never good!
Possible the knock sensor was put in the wrong place? Timing off enough to cause pinging? Bad gas?
Contact a shop not afraid to work on your car! A shop with good rep!!

 

I hate to say this, but maybe they didn't check to make sure that coolant didn't get into the engine and it wore out the bearings. The soft babbit material of bearings and coolant don't get along. It is possible they ran the engine a bit before they did an oil change and coolant seeped in. I wouldn't drive the car if it is knocking away. Get it back to the shop and get the knocking fixed. Their screwing up could cost you an engine.

 

Thank you guys for all your help! I'll drop the car off at the shop right now and bring back details as they unfold...

 

I agree with the others. I would not run it without having it checked by them or preferably someone else.