Not a constant knock comes and goes, yes it gets faster with throttle, and there are small metal shavings on tip of dip stick. I was told its my Camshaft, I all ready have a xe262 that's new for this motor. What do you guys think if I'm all ready going inside the motor

86 ta, lg4 carb 700r4 auto, headers cat back and duel snorkel air. Only mods

Thanks guys

 

that does sound like a bad camshaft-back when i didn't know any better,i once replaced lifters onto a well used cam and it ate the new lifters-little metal particles could be seen glittering in the oil....took back apart and changed both cam and lifters this time

 

Assume this is a flat tappet cam - how long since the cam swap, and how did you break it in? Did you use a new set of lifters?

 

The cam is factory stock. Never changed!!! I have a brand new comp xe262 Not installed that I want to use. Yes flat tappet cam.. For the new one. I bought the whole kit, cam, lifters, springs, retainers, timing chain.

 

Since you brought it up what is best way to break in a cam??
Thanks

 

You must run the motor at 1500-2000RPM for the fist 30min. without going below 1500rpm. If you see a problem you shut off the car fix problem and go right back to 1500-2000rpm for remainder of the 30min.

 

i doubt its the cam knocking. thats usually the bottom end or the timing chain. use a mechanics stethascope, screwdriver or something to find out where the noise is coming from. hows your oil pressure? with metal shavings in your oil and the motor knocking,...its not time to do a cam swap. need to find the problem first. JMO.

 

Ah sorry, from your first post I thought you'd already done the cam swap.

In that case, knock + metal in oil usually = bearing i guess

 

I would say probably rod bearing.

You can check this and that, but if you have metal in your oil, there is only one option. Pull the motor and tear it down. It will only get worse. Metal in the oil is eating away at the bearings. Stop now and save yourself some money in the end.

 

Thanks guys. Going to get inside motor anyways so I'll check it all out top to bottom. The sound comes from the middle of the block passenger side when I check with the scope it's higher up then rod bearings. If you sit in passenger side you can hear it loud at times even then it sounds upwards in the engine. Car has 146k on all original lg4...

 

I had a cam go flat a few years back. Oil had very fine metal pieces in it. We thought we could get by with just swapping the cam and trying to flush all the metal out. Motor made it about another 1k miles before a rod started knocking on it. Wasnt long before I didnt have oil pressure at idle. It ate the bearings all to pieces in that motor.

With 146k miles, sounds like she could use a good freshing. Be a good time to source a 96-99 5.7 to put in.

 

Cams don't knock. Cranks don't knock. Lifters tick. The only thing that would cause a knock is rod bearings.

Since there's metal in the engine, the only real way to fix it properly is to completely strip down the engine and clean out all the galleries. Hopefully there's no damage to the crank or rods.

Considering the cost to do all that work, it's probably cheaper and faster to just buy a replacement engine and drop it in.

 

Ok so I drained oil, dropped pan and could not find any chips/shavings in the oil, there were just a few on dipstick. Spun motor with breaker bar on crank everything looks great. Replaced gasket and filter 5qts mobil1 car runs like a champ better then ever.
What you guys make of that. Maybe just cleaned out stuff when I flushed new oil through with pan back on before I filled it? Used to get puff of blue oil smoke on start up. Now I get black carbon and it runs better.

 

how long was the oil in the engine or miles ?

 

Well in the motor about 4 months, mileage wise about 2,400

 

get some oil thats high in zinc when swapping cam im over cautious with everything most people wont go that far but makes me sleep better at night lol but posts above explaing how to breakin cam is about right and i think for flat tappet you may want to recheck lash after breakin but dont qoute me on that
hhmmm thats odd atleast its running better lol i usally run a engine oil flush before changing oil to keep engine clean and flush any thing bad out

i have a 96 toyota avalon with well over 300,000 miles never open the engine up lol and i have same routine with camaro

 

Thanks going to do some investigating when I decide to finally change the cam. Look around see if anything looks worn or abnormal..

 

ok keep up the good work and post some pics lol

 

I'll keep you posted. Car ugly right now in black primer no spoiler. Going to be Intence blue metallic when all done

 

lol no worry

 

Any metal shavings in the motor, no matter if there just on the dipstick, is bad news. Maybe you'll be lucky and get some more miles of it before it tanks, but you are looking at an overhaul. The knock higher in the engine could be a wrist pin. Knocking can also be caused by excessive end play in the crankshaft from the trust bearing, which is just part of the rear main bearing, wearing out, or from the trust surface of the crank being peeled. That may also be where your metal shavings came from.

In any case, you're not going to want to spend what it will cost to fix that engine when the time comes. Just invest that money in a 350.

 

I figured I need to do some fixing. I have the jegs roller good wrench 350 with the vortec heads and hot cam that's going in in the winter. But going to mess with lg4 for now keep it going since time being only car.

 

spun main?

 

Since you already have the replacement motor, you really have no issue. Drive it til it drops or til you do the swap. I personally own a little $1,000 Suzuki pile that I use during wet weather or when I'm working on my Beasty. It saves on fuel and takes the pressure off when I need to have the IROC down for extensive work. It also greatly reduces the accumulation miles. Since I built my Beasty 14 years ago, I've put about 28,000 miles on her.

 

Going to put new cam in anyways. Never done one want the experience for the new motor.

 

If you got a knock and shavings on the dipstick the motor is toast drive it til it dies or pull it. Those shavings get pumped everywhere and will wear every bearing surface bore etc etc. Done.

 

Wait. What?

That motor is not going to last very long. DO NOT waste a new cam in it. Thats just throwing away money for no reason.

 

If I do the rod bearings how do I know what ones to use.
.000" .010" .020" ect.. ???? Undersized or oversized ??

 

LG,LG,LG You have a lot of enthusiasm and that is great and wonderful. I am truly sorry but I am afraid with the metal filings and the knock the block will have to come out for repair. The metal filings are imbedded in all the bearings, oil pump, lifters and push rods and all the oil passages. The best you can do is clean it up use a little heavier oil and change filter often. Drive real easy while you are gathering parts for your rebuild.

 

Just for fun when it does get pulled for new motor. How would I know what bearings

 

It all depends on if you get a new or re manufactured crank. It will say on and usually come with the right bearings. The new crank would be what they call standard which is right at the original engine manufacturers measurements. The re manufactured crank bearings would be like .10 or .20 thousands over to make up the difference from grinding the old crank down.

 

fact! if you have significant amounts of metal shavings on your dip stick you have significant metallic debris in your oil pan, and your oil pump IS sucking them up and forcing them thru its gears and toward the oil filter , SOME of that metallic trash ALWAYS bypasses the oil filter eventually, and the oil pump is subjected to increased wear.
your engine WILL continue to wear at an increased rate and failure to pull it down and correct the problem is just prolonging and increasing the potential for increased damage or catastrophic failure.





you can expect things like this if its allowed to continue
http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/...hp?f=54&t=3536

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/...php?f=54&t=120

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/...php?f=54&t=117

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/....php?f=54&t=52

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/...php?f=52&t=282

its time to pull it down, inspect, locate and correct any potential problem areas before things get worse

 

i think your seeing a pattern here from experienced people. let me show you what running with the wrong oil and and metal in the oil will do in a few months. your call.