A few days ago i got a very loud tapping while just driving normally. I mean baby driving also since it was a sunday and just nice cruise weather. I thought it was a exhuast leak cause it damn sure sounded like one. A constant TICK TICK TICK sound which seemed to get louder the longer I drove(trying to get back home). Oil PSI was constant 42 at 60mph and never saw any lower. Anyway I get home and that my block off plate for the AIR had a leak under it(couldnt see that from above). So i fixed that and sealed her good. Now the engine bay is very quiet and no ticking anywhere. I drove her around for 15-20 mins and got her all nice and warm to see if the ticking would come back.. Nope, still nice and quiet like a baby. The oil PSI was still 40-60ish. I noticed the guage would do something weird. When i let off the gas and slow, the psi would jump up(only did that a few times). Ive never watched my guage that much before so it may have done that all this time so it could be normal.


anywayyy, i still took off the covers and checked the rockers and everything. The were all torqued to specs still. I drained the oil and i did notice some FINE flakes in it. BUT keep in mind i swapped heads about a year ago. We put dyno oil in there for the startup and break in, then replaced that with mobile 1. Thats the oil thats been i nthere since then. I dont drive the car to much, so i only put about 2-3k on her since then. Im just wondering of those flakes came from some shavings left in the heads maybe? I cut the filter open and no metal peices or anything, just a few little flakes again(nothing major). Car isnt making any weird sounds anymore so im hoping it was just the AIR leak cuase it sounded much like a lifter sticking or tapping.

I showed the oil to a mechainc i trust and he sdaid he didnt see anything strange. That must spun bearings would turn the oil goldish?

any ideas?? oil PSI is very good and no other sounds are coming from her. Im just being safe right now cause im paranoid its something major LOL

im just thinking those flakes came from some shavings outta the heads maybe which didnt all come out when we broke the heads in

anyone have pics of there oil when they spun a bearing maybe so i can look and see?

 

I would like to know has well because I have a similar problem but mine seems to tap worse then HD's.

 

A spun bearing will have very low oil pressure accompanied soon by a knock/thunk depending on which bearing has gone bad. Your observence of the OP gauge is probably more a function of the quage or sending unit. The metal bits concern me some. I would use and internal engine cleaner and following instructions or a Qt of ATF, allow to idle about 20 mins. and use a paint strainer or something like it to sift throught the drained oil and look for any more metal bits. If you believe it is from the rebuild, they did a shitty job cleaning it before assy.

 

well the oil PSI is great on my car... im just wondering what the little flakes came from myself. Im attaching a pic of some I found in the filter. You cant see them that great, but you can see the shiny peices.

I thought the heads were cleaned well. After the startup and first break in that oil was drained and replaced with what i just drained out day.

Savage, this is one of the damn deals where you wish i would break you you definitly know wtf is bad lol. Even if it costs more, i'd rather fix it then wonder what is about to break or bad

Glen, i used a strainer when i drained the oil out. I caught a few peices of trash, but nothing metal wise. One peice of trash looked like a carbon build up almost.. see the last pic. The other stuff in the pic is what seems like some gasket material/sealant and the other actaully seems like a peice of the oil filter liner.

flakes on filter(posting link cause pics a little big for this screen/page)
http://www.callaocarcenter.com/metal.jpg

pic showing trash in the oil

 

The pic in the post just likes like trash. Call it..... **** happens, don't do it again. Nice to know that crap went thru the oil pump.....huh!

The filter media looks from what I can make out, little shiny bits. Do they stick to a magnet? This is the second oil change since a rebuild or just a head swap? Did the heads get cleaned after recieving them and before install? Were the spring seats in the head enlarged? Did they reinstall the metal spring seat under the spring? But..... it could also be just debris from a bad cleaning job.

 

Mine did this but my engine was quiet as a mouse. I step on the gas and it went down, let off and it went up. My crank was trashed. I had it and two rods replaced when I got my rebuild this winter.

 

glen: second change since the heads went on. I slacked on my oil change since i know you are supposed to change it every 6months regardless of how much you drive(or 3k miles roughly). The oil still looks like new though. But no the bits didnt stick to the magnet. I had flakes on that though, but those looked like normal stuff during any oil change. No weird bits and peices could be found. Just those aluminion flakes it seems. The heads were clean when we got them(thanks to tea). Ive seen far worse cleaning jobs but these were pretty much top notch. But again, this is the 2nd oil change since adding the ported heads so im sure its gonna be some debris in there i hope.

im gonna go out tomorrow and hammer the car... if she goes it goes.. nothing really I can do about it. If it holds, ill put another 100-200 miles on here and check the oil for this stuff again. If its there still, then i know I have isues I guess


Jake: that looks like what my guage does. I let off and it goes up.. give it a little and it comes back down but never below 40 usually.. at the lowest i see 38

did yours eventually just shut down? Or did you take her apart and look for a problem?
this sucks LOL

 

Well the debrie I found was stuck to the drain plug. It was larger then the other stuff I've seen on the plug. Also it was my first oil change since the cam. I know it was a long time since the last time it was changed because it sat almost all winter. I just pray it's a lifter and nothing more.

 

are the metal pieces magnetic?

 

Spun bearing will be a loud knocking accompanied by low oil pressure. Ask me how I know.

 

No it never actually locked up or anything. I slacked on my oil changes between July and December. Let it drop below 5 quarts. When I changed the oil around Christmas, I found a lot of metal stuck to the plug. Pressure had dropped another 10 psi or so to 12-13 at idle. I knew it was pretty much shot then. I went ahead and got the engine overhauled before I had a catastrophe. I got my old pickup tube back and the screen was riddled with chunks and strips of metal.

 

well i had some metal stuck to the plug, but nothing but fibers/flakes like I always see on it over the past years. If I found a weird clunk stuck to it, then i would know something was wrong. These metal on the plug would mash in your fingers and just became a silver paint

im probbaly over reacting so im hoping it was just a exhaust leaks and the debris I found was just left over flakes form the heads maybe

I did slack on the oil change, but I also havent exactly been hard on the car. I know that probably doesnt matter, but im pretty sure the oil was always good and filled. I check that everytime I go somewhere

LS1BLACK: my pressure is still good.. when she started betting below 30 on the gauge then ill definitly know somethings up for now its 42+