Cascade Crew

[Danked]

i checked out a bmw forum, and some guy had knocking noises in his motor too, (if you've read my other threads you would know what im talking about)

if a rod bearing is toast, the easiest way to find out is drain the damn oil! its EASY to do and you will see metallic flakes if a bearing desintegrated. trust me, ive seen it 3-4 times in the last 6 months on my, my brothers, and a few buddies cars. (stroke of bad luck and a bunch of 100 dollar cars... lol) the oil will look like black metallic paint. if it isnt that, you could have skipped a tooth or two on the timing belt and the valves are tapping the pistons.

maybe its the same with mine...... should i drain the oil and check for the flakes?

[Quasi-Traction]

I guess its worth a shot...a couple quarts of oil is cheap enough to replace if it turns out being fine.

Also, your 3.1 doesn't have a timing "belt" it has a timing "chain". Timing belts you'll typically find more often on OHC(over-head camshaft) cars. The belt obviously isn't as stiff as the chain so at higher rpm there's a little less mechanical vibration/shock on the crank and camshaft than with a chain. Also a belt will provide less rotational resistance than a chain with a gear and teeth. The down side is timing belts can break and periodically need to be replaced, just like other belts that work your accessories. Timing chains can wear down like other metallic parts, but typically can be left alone until you change camshafts or do an engine rebuild.

[QwkTrip]

Danked, sometimes it's best to be blunt and straight forward. So here it goes...

You've been asking a lot of questions about this and you're getting nowhere. The directions you take seem random and fragmented. You really don't seem to have the knowledge to whip this problem in a timely manner and you're not getting good help from us. Why don't you get a professional to look at it and be done with it? At the current rate, you're going to have the entire car disassembled by September and still not have any idea about the problem.

Just my 2 cents.

[aaron_sK]

My money's still on something dumb like an exhaust leak, bad timing, or something like that.

[Xophertony]

timing can do wierd things, take it from the guys whos 350 dynoed 176HP

CHECK YOUR TIMING!!

i think i gained 30HP just by resetting it to stock. no joke.

[blue89]

Wow, I'd suggest having someone actually listen to it, dude. If you don't know enough about motors to tell the difference between a spun connecting rod, engine knock, or a pushrod, I'd really have someone listen. Take it down to a shop and have them listen. Its too hard to tell what the problem is by just saying it knocks, ticks, or pings (unless you've actually heard these differences).

But, my 2 cents, if its a light tick, it could be a collapsed lifter (happens ALL THE FRICKEN TIME!). If its a hard knock like a hammer, it could be a rod.

So go have a pro listen and get back here!

[Danked]

ive been thinking about this for like the whole day, the best way to explain how it sounds is this:

get a 175 pound solid iron sludge hammer
slam it against a 5 ton block of solid iron w/ 500 lbs of pressure

[Xophertony]

yeah, thats a bottom end knock. will the engine run? turn it on and place a screw driver on different parts of the engine block. heads, upperblock, lower block.... etc... then place the screw driver handle to your ear, what you are looking for is the source of the knock. you should be able to pinpoint where it is coming from this way. then you can report back with an exact location and we can tell you aproximatly how screwed you are. be carfull not to hurt yourself

[BigDaddyVu]

You know it could be that heat raiser on the right side coupler mind did that.

[BigDaddyVu]

disconect the vacum line to that or use a stick or a broken golf club and press on the lever. i happen to have alot of broke golf clubs. i wasn't happy with the sport until alcohol became the factor.

[LB985IROC]

maybe its because your muffler is for jdm race car y0! and it trashed your 3.1 lol j/k