Engine knocking

[drizztkun]

Hi, last week i started hearing knocking on my engine but only like in 1st and 2nd gear was pretty loud. but when in 3rd and above no noise. So i checked and somehow my oil had all disappeared or almost. only had like 1quart left. so i refilled it and the knocking mostly went away, but i'll hear it still in 1st and 2nd gear when above 3000rpm. My dad believes it's the lifter that gets emptied and does that noise.

I've added a can of wynn's motor tune up thingy hoping it would help the noise go away but doesnt seem to change much. well at 180 000 miles i dont wanna spend lots of money on it. but id still like to fix it so the car can last me another year or 2 then get a much newer one ((this one is a 98gt))

As to why the oil went away i can only assume it might be due to the problem i had this winter, went a couple of month trying to figure out the leak in the prestone and found it was right above the spark plug (the one hard to reach cyl4?) and this spring this one sort of died so i got the misfire issue. replaced the plug and it was full of mud/prestone in there, cleaned as best i could. and was fine after. And since im bad at checking my oil well i only guess it got burned or something in that cylinder that wasnt firing?

Oh well... any thoughts?

 

[bdcardinal]

run compression, cylinder leakdown, and power balance tests. do a compression test both through a scan tool and manually. lifter failures usually arent common on this motor, most likely you spun a bearing.

 

[mogs01gt]

If you oil got down to only having a quart in the engine, you probably spun a bearing.

 

[ADRENLN]

i have to agree, most likely a spun bearing

 

[bdcardinal]

i should add, lifter failures are seen on the 3v motors where there is a knocking sound on first startup when cold, there is a TSB to replace some of the lifters and the cam phasers.

that being said, you do not have a 3v motor. you can try disabling one cylinder at a time through turning off the fuel injector and see if the noise goes away on that hole.

 

[joshheat25]

1 quart of Oil.. the oil gnomes must be stealing it at night. I check my oil at least once a week. Typically I'll use 1 qt. between fill ups.
Now When you guys say spun a bearing I am assuming your talking about the Crankshaft right?

 

[BurningRubber]

Either rod or crank bearings, neither is safe with no oil, lol.

 

[the98stang]

1 quart of oil left = your engine is boned in the @ass

Might as well start looking for a new shortblock....I can almost guarantee your compression is shot and the bearings/rods are ruined.

 

[drizztkun]

Thanks guys, well first i'll check the compression this weekend and see what it tells, just hope i can find all the parts for it in my basement the joy of moving

 

[snidehockey]

same EXACT thing happened to me...I mean EXACT. Long story short, there's a rebuild kit in my closet right now

It's your bearings bro.

 

[drizztkun]

Doing it yourself? i might go that way since my father in law has a car lift...

how much $$$$ am i looking at?

 

[snidehockey]

$1,200 for a rebuild kit that has everything in it...gaskets, pistons, timing set, etc.

 

[2000GTdriver]

Good time to build a forged short block.

 

[drizztkun]

Would be but it's a car that was total lost that i had rebuilt 5 years ago, now has close to 200k miles, it seen better days, i'll prolly just do a patch up to make it last another year and get an 03~05 next year... money is really tight right now