3.4 knock, F#$@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[w-bodys_are_the_best]

I am going to take my camera out some day this week or weekend, and get vid of it with sound, but the 3.4 in my international is now making a knocking sound, and it's definatley coming from the top end . I'm fearing the worst. I took the international to work last week to show some of my friends, and on the way home, this kid from work tried to pass me in his continental with a 32v 4.6, so I raced him, and kept right up . I wasn't beating on it terribly, but had to show him I could stay right up with his Lincoln. I didn't think at all that I was pushing it hard enough to do any damage, but when I got about 10 miles from home and turned at an intersection, I noticed the knock. I babied it home not going past 2500 rpm if i could help it. It has plenty of fluids, never got hot, nothing. I know it was stupid to race him, but like I said I didn't think for 1 minute I was pushing it that hard, I shifted around 5000-5500, never higher than that. It sounds like one of the cams maybe, I'm not 100% sure, anyone else know what it could be? I let it sit, then this weekend, I started it up and thought it wasn't making the noise, drove uptown like 6 blocks maybe, then left it running at the pop machine, I could here it start knocking, then on the drive home I could hear it the whole time, I shut it off right away, waited awhile, checked oil, fine, checked everything else, nothing out of the ordinary, but I'm definatly not driving it at all, I'm afraid I've already done enough damage. It's been sitting out front since. It was stupid, but i'm not giving up on her, she's going to get fixed whatever it is, can't let 1 of 109 sit and rot, or get junked. Please help me.

[chadz34]

Fix it! 1 of 109 is too rare to let die!

[mfewtrail]

If it's coming from the top end like you suspect, then it's a valvetrain problem(most likely a bad lifter). I've seen several LQ1's with ticking lifters, the majority of the cars they were in looked kinda beat so they probably weren't maintained very well. I would suspect in some cases the lifter(s) got trashed due to high rpm operation when the oil level was low(oil pump drive o-ring leak...most people don't keep track of their oil level worth a damn).

[w-bodys_are_the_best]

Well, I recorded the motor running on my camera and you can watch it here: knock.wmv - 6.85MB . I checked the oil, fine, started it up and let it warm up, but no knock just yet, so I drove it like 3 blocks and came back, and it was barely audible, let it warm a bit more, and then recored this video, there is also a tick you can hear, but I'm worried about the knock, you can hear it is the deeper sound when I rev it. Motor is very "whiny", I think that is a combination power steering and throttle body noise, power steering has a leak somewhere. It wasn't very loud this time, but the day I drove it to work, I arrived at home, and it was a very noticable knock. Also, this last weekend I drove it around town for awhile, and it was very noticable then too, in fact when I pulled up my girlfriend was outside, and said, "What the hell is that knocking sound?" I couldn't hear it very good while recording, but you can tell it's there in the video. Let me know if anyone can tell by listening to the video. thanks.

 

P.S. let me know if that link does not work.

[FordBoy]

If you can hear it clearly STOP DRIVING IT!! you will end up makeing it worse then you now it is. something isnt right my main guess is valvetrain but i dont know for sure.

[patgizz]

you need a stethoscope. but it doesn't sounds pretty. i'd stop driving it now before you toss a rod through the block and a piston up into the head.

[mfewtrail]

Now that I've watched the video, I'd say you've got a toasted rod bearing creating the "knock". Get a stethoscope like Pat mentioned and you should be able to tell that the sound is coming from the bottom end for sure, most part stores have them for under $10.