ok so when i got in my car and started it this morning it started making a pretty decent knocking sound. checked the oil it was about a half quart low and smelled of gas extremely bad. so i limped it the 1.5 miles to work and drained the oil out of it. no metal shavings or chunks to be seen. strained the oil through a rag and nothing metallic at all came out of the engine.
so i pulled the valve covers and checked the lash on all the lifters. they were all in spec. so i put some 10w40 in the engine and let it idle for a while. revved it up and the knocking got louder.
so about this time i admitted defeat and parked the car. after work i started it up and as expected, the knocking was still there.
so on the way home i drove it pretty aggressively hoping something would give way so i would have an excuse to buy a 26 lol.
but to my suprise the knocking/ticking damn near went away completely. you can still hear it but you have to be listening for it and have the hood open.

soooo.....what do you think this could be?
im stuck between stubborn lifters that finally primed themselves or a loose piston pin that got set back into place from the aggressive driving.

all thoughts and opinions are appreciated, good or bad.

thanks,
jason

 

bad oil pump? happened to me, it sounded like lifters were going ham with no oil,

then it would go away, then come back,

then.....boom


it went boom when i tried the "drive aggresively" thing. no lie lol

 

Im hoping that's not it.But I've always had pretty good oil pressure. 18-20 psi idle at operating temp. And goes up incrementally from there.

 

i think you hit it on the head actually. it has been colder lately which would make oil a little less fluid. i would let it warm up if it is cool out in the morning.

 

was your motor set modified when you got it?

mite of been beaten on/ blow up from the previous owner in japan land

 

Did you ever figure it out? I saw you out on Saturday.

 

to my knowledge the engine had a fresh stock rebuild when i got it(from the person who originally bought the engine). and judging by how new all the engine parts looked i believe it was actually rebuilt. engine was on stock turbo with a isis plenum installed by previous owner. im on my second cylinder head thanks to bad valves in the first one. (that head is for sale if anybody wants it lol)
but anyways...i tore the valve covers off the engine and let it run for a few seconds and determined it was probably the lifters making the noise. so i put some new oil in it and it helped a little bit.
after a long day at work i decided i wasnt going to let my car go out like a bitch so i commenced to beating the shit out of it on the way home. and much to my suprise the noise completely went away.
so im 99.9% sure my lifters just bled out due to the crap oil that had 5k miles on it.
and its been running good ever since.

 

Glad you figured it out. Mine did the same thing when I first started it up. Scared the crap out of me lol.