19f0rmula88

i bought an 88 firebird and its got this weird noise coming from the engine its either a ticking or a knocking. i cant tell where its coming from. you can hear it at idle-4th gear. once i get into 5th it stops.

i changed the oil and that did nothing but when i drained it there was only about 2 or 3 quarts in the entire engine. its a 305 tbi and has t5 transmission if thats any help it also has about 176k miles on it. also the oil pressure gauge doesnt work maybe somebody can help me with that?

i only get to work on the car on weekends because of where i have it. so that means tomorrow i am going to work on it. HELP TONIGHT WOULD BE GREAT !!! THANKS ANYBODY WHO HELPS. this car will become my daily driver so i want to fix it all before spring. also did 1988 have vats in it?

im just 17 so any help from experienced third genners would be great.

thanks again!!

chevysquid

iTrader: (7)

maybe an exhaust leak?

zraffz

Maybe your oil pressure gauge is working but the pump isn't and that horrible sound is from lack of lubrication? Too broad for us to help really.

19f0rmula88

i was told that maybe i should try to tighten my manifolds. could that be it?

19f0rmula88

i have had it for about a week now and i went over the whole car so i can supply more information. just tell me what else i can post that will be helpful

camaronewbie

Take a long long screwdriver - with engine running, take plastic handle end and place lightly against ear, place tip on different engine locations -the vibrations from the noises will be transmitted directly to ear drum, making noises easier to pinpoint.

Try a valve cover over each cylinder - if a ticking valve it will be louder above that valve. Try the exhaust manifold at each port - will be louder at the one where there is an exhaust leak. So on.

JUST BE CAREFUL!! I don't want you coming back to me and saying you poked your eye out Blackbeard or lost an ear Van Gogh!

Oh - the oil pressure sending unit should be above oil filter - have a 3 wire plug to it - check continuity between the smaller of the 3 wires and that corresponding wire color under the dash to the guages.

19f0rmula88

thanks for the help. ill try all this tomorrow and ill update as i experiment.

poking an eye out or losing an ear would be terrible. lets hope that doesnt happen.

would putting double hump heads on a 305 be a waste or should i save that for like a 355 build or something?

BASSETT IROC 85

iTrader: (2)

Start your car and let it idle with the shifter in neutral foot off the clutch. See if it makes the noise you describe. If there is noise press the clutch in and see if it changes. Same the other way too. If there is no noise press the clutch and see if the noise comes back. I would not use double humps on a 305. Sell them and buy vortec heads for your later engine build.

camaronewbie

Heads - Please know, there is very very little you can do with a TBI car, without chip reprogramming, and there isn't alot of reprogramming that can be done with the TBI chip. Now if you get rid of the TBI system, then the sky is the limit. But there are very few (if any) TBI chip programmers out there that can actually do anything above getting the car to run (and poorly at best). There's alot of talk and promises, but they never come to fruition. The only folks that have had any success with any TBI chip mods are the few that have spent months tuning their own. Its a large learnig curve if you've never done it, for you have to understand cars as well as programming as well as things like Volumetric Efficiencies and many things far above my patience level.

Therefore, a TBI car is best left alone for the most part. You can add headers, or add an LT1 cam, or change intake, or change heads - but if you do more than 1 or 2 of those things, you end up in the 'twilight zone' - where you've added air flow and the chip doesn't understand what to do with it, so it dumps fuel on top of it like crazy, and thus runs extremely rich (and poorly).

Years ago, I tried just for the sake - figured I could get someone to program a chip for me. I ported/polished #416 heads, 1.94 intake valves, 1.6:1 rollertip rockers, LT1 cam, carb intake, headers - After 4 months, and dealing with every TBI chip programmer in the world I could find, I finally got a local fella to make me a chip that would get the car to run (just barely). If I had carbed her, she'd run great - much faster than a TBI 305 - but emissions laws then wouldnt let me, and I sold her.

Double Humps might have been the head 'back in the day' - but there's much much better options now. And even if you can get rid of the TBI, I'd leave that motor alone and work towards a 350 or better engine - everything for a 350 costs the same as anything for a 305, and regardless, a 350 will always outperform - kinda silly to throw the same cash at less performance.

19f0rmula88

that would be a little bit silly to waste it on a 305. i suppose i should get rid of the trash and save for the 355 build.

come to find out my car came with a magnaflow full exhaust from manifold back stainless steal(475$) how awesome is that?

thanks for the heads up so i wont waste an entire weekend changing heads for no reason

Grumbles

Your rear gears are most likely 3.08 open btw :]

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

How fast is the tick? Is it a rapid series of ticks, or more of a tick tick tick where you can make out the individual noises? There are two main sources for the noise. The rotating assembly, or the valvetrain. The valvetrain runs at half the speed the engine does, so noises from it are at a lower frequency than noises from the bottom end.

Does teh sound persist when you push in the clutch?

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLV7NdtZ5J0

Thats a good example of what a valve tap sounds like, and roughly how fast the noise is. Looks like it was due to a bad lifter.

19f0rmula88

i couldnt help but notice we got the same thing except you got those mods i got nothing besides exhaust lol. is 3.08 good or bad?

19f0rmula88

my car makes that same noise in the video. thank you for helping me save a bunch of time and money for nothing

now if i replace pushrods and lifters will it be likely for mine to go away ?

19f0rmula88

well as it turns out that in the video was not my problem. it turned out to be a rod knock. so i poured in 2 different types of engine restorer and now the noise is gone.. ?!!?? whats that about

whiteboycv67

can you post a video of it running ?? could prob tell you then

torque_is_good

basically you bought a 23 year old car with probably the original engine and tranny and it's lived a good life. It now requires significant expense to get it running well. There are no magic bottles that fix rod knock.

You need to make a decision. Do you try and sell a vehicle with an engine that needs to be rebuilt along with a tranny/clutch that also needs inspection/repair/rebuild/replace or do you invest a $few thousand and get the vehicle into running shape.

When I was looking for a 3rd gen project vehicle, the 89 RS I bought had all the pieces and no rust. It was running when I bought it but I bought it fully intending to rebuild the engine and tranny which i just completed.

Unless you get extremely lucky, a 23 year old car with that many miles should only be bought with the assumption that $several thousand will need to be spent within the first year.

You have a decision to make; good luck.

BASSETT IROC 85

iTrader: (2)

Sound like a ticking time bomb and all you did was just add a few more Minuit's until the blast.

19f0rmula88

your description was extremely funny for some reason. i know that when it comes to this i shouldnt be laughing but everything you said and the way it was described was really funny. i understand that it will probably need to be replaced but as for now it runs. it gets me from point a to point b. ill just say f it and run it till it blows up and im stuck on the side of the road waiting for someone to pick me up. but until that day ill drive this thing around.

i do know that theres no magic bottles to get rid of a rod knock but it did make whatever it was rattling around go away. so thats a plus.

in another post i said there was no rust.. man was i wrong. i went to replace the center console and notice the carpet isn't original so i pulled it up and what do i find? a sh*t load of rust under the carpet every where oh well i do like the thought of a restore in spring and summer. i have been watching a very motivation one on here with an 86 trans am project pita or something of that nature. but anyway yes thank you for letting me know while giving me a good laugh about the **** turd i bought

BASSETT IROC 85

iTrader: (2)

In your case run it till it pops, pull your tag and leave it where it died. You can always find a southern can later.

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

Engine restorer will not get rid of a rod knock, unless it dramatically increases the oils viscosity. If the tick is high pitched like the one in the video, and roughly the same speed, then its likely something in the valvetrain. If a lifter is bleeding down, sometimes adding something to thicken up the oil will allow the lifter to retain some of the oil and stay pumped up, stopping much of the tick.

As for rod knock, this is roughly the speed of a knock in the rotating assembly. Its 2x faster, and has a much deeper sound than something in the valvetrain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZe0m...eature=related

torque_is_good

If you paid $500 or less for the vehicle, and your expectations (and be honest) were that you would be buying a car exactly as you are now seeing it, with many problems, then no harm no foul.

If, again be honest, you thought you were getting something a little bit better, then something happened during the buying process that was wrong

caveat emptor

19f0rmula88

i dont understand but ill be honest, i paid 900 dollars for it and about 300 for towing. i was not expecting something built in 1988 with 175xxx or 176xxx miles on it to be anything spectacular. i got the car mainly because it was a third gen and mainly because it was a 88-90 model formula. with my favorite hood and spoiler. i am fully aware of this car as it being a project. i dont mind. i do have the money to put into it i was just seeing if there was any way to temporarily fix the 305 since its a daily driver until i can get the new engine done. but as it turns out to be whatever knocking that stopped i will just park it do all the work then make it a daily.

19f0rmula88

well i dont know what to say my uncle tells me its a rod knock and my dad tells me i just need to tighten my rocker arms. it does sound like the noise in the first video and it seems to be coming from the top of the engine.

what i did to stop the noise was i poured extremely thick stp oil treatment into it and it went away after 5 minutes of running.

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like its got a bad lifter. Sometimes they can get gunk in them that causes the check valve to leak, which leads to the lifter bleeding down. It could also be caused by excessively worn rockers or pushrods, which can cause the lash to open up.