Strange knocking

Ohoopee

Hello, about two weeks ago, my started making a strange noise. A frien of mine loves my car and wanted to give it a drive around the estate. I let him and as he was reversing out of my driveway is when I first noticed the noise. It doesn't sound like a metallic knock. like metel on metel like a rod or anything like that. So I took the belt off my car, trying to eliminate what it could be...I then started the engine briefly without the belt...the noise was still there. It sound like it is coming from down inside or below the engine. I have not noticed any lose of power or preformance since the noise started. I finally broke down out of fear and took the car to a local garage. He charged me 45 Euro and basically told me he had no idea...said he thought it might be the oil pump but said without taking the whole engine apart, there was no way to know. I want to try to fix this but I am not really prepared to take the engine out of my car at this stage with the equipment that I currently have. I don't want to try to do this unless I have too. But first, need to have an idea of what is wrong. I would appreciate any opinions. The below link is a video of my car engine running. You will hear a very loud rattle...that is coming form my exhaust...don't worry about that...but listen for the thump in the back ground. Any ideas?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8...XJLVU5EZ2RPVkE

CJhaughey

Does it change with engine speed?

Ohoopee

Yes it does. In fact, it changes with the idle speed. It starts off around the speed you heard but if I let the engine idle for a few minutes it will eventually slow down. When you give it the "gas", it speeds up.

CJhaughey

Ohoopee wrote: »

Yes it does. In fact, it changes with the idle speed. It starts off around the speed you heard but if I let the engine idle for a few minutes it will eventually slow down. When you give it the "gas", it speeds up.

Have you got a long screwdriver? You can stick that against the engine and use the handle against your head to listen for various sounds.
Use care not to get clothing or hair pulled into the belts obviously.
To me it sounds like a big end bearing, was the engine run low on oil at any point?

Ohoopee

I have tried that. I am pretty much self taught when it comes to engines so I am not sure if I would be able to tell anyway. I agree that it sounds like a bearing of some sort...my first thought was the bearing in the crank shaft but the garage said no...he insisted that it wasn't a bearing and kept saying it sound like a pump going on and off.

It has never run (very low) on oil since I have owned it but it has a life before me as I didn't buy it new. I serviced the car back in March, changed the oil and filter. The first thing I did when I heard the noise was check the oil...it was a LITTLE low so I topped it up. Honestly, I hope you are wrong as I don't think I have the equipment or experience to change a big end bearing and I could likely buy a new engine for the price getting this fixed would cost on this car...it is 2001. But I greatly appreciate your opinion.

nd

you could try taking off the belts and run it for a minute to see if the noise is still there. If it is that'd rule out one of the pulley bearings.

Ohoopee

Yeah, I did that already, I removed the belts and started the engine, knock was still there.

nd

Sorry, should have read the whole post.

Any louder if you remove the oil cap?

Ohoopee

No...not noticeably anyway.

Ohoopee

Another clue...since making that video, the thump has gotten quieter...it is still there, it is just not as loud as when I took the video about a week ago. The only thing I have done since is remove the belts, put them back on and also topped up the oil in it as it was a small bit low...that is all I have done....wonder if it getting quieter is just a coincidence.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Ohoopee wrote: »

Another clue...since making that video, the thump has gotten quieter...it is still there, it is just not as loud as when I took the video about a week ago. The only thing I have done since is remove the belts, put them back on and also topped up the oil in it as it was a small bit low...that is all I have done....wonder if it getting quieter is just a coincidence.

It's possible when you were refitting a belt you tensioned the pulley slightly more than it was previous which would suggest it's a bad bearing on a belt pulley.

Autochange

Its too slow to be off the coming from the belt. Can you jack it up and get under with your light and screwdriver. Try the sump and even the gearbox bell housing to rule it out

Ohoopee

Tried that...it seems like it is coming from closer to the front of the car than the sump but when you listen from the front of the car, seems like it is coming more from the back. Not coming from the gear box.

Autochange

One thing i can think of is the older Hyundai Getz 1.4 engine used develop a rattle/ knock from the head. It was due to carbon build up in the head. The solution was to add a couple of bottles of oil system cleaner/ engine cleaner. Then replace the oil and filter.

Ohoopee

This is a Lexus IS 200 but it would be great if that is all it was.

Esel

Ohoopee wrote: »

This is a Lexus IS 200

That might help people here to diagnose the problem.

corks finest

Release the mother in law from the boot,,

corks finest

Release the mother in law from the boot,,

corks finest

Release the mother in law from the boot,,

mullingar

If the big end bearing is gone, you would have a massive oil pressure loss due to the high amount of oil passing through the worn bearing.

Measure the oil pressure as per tech data (when hot!)

Ohoopee

Ok so I found the source of the knocking...and not a moment too soon...I have never had this happen before. Eight months ago, I changed the timing belt and tensioner on my car. It wasn't quite time yet but I found a timing belt kit cheap in a local shop...never again. The timing belting was coming apart, literally peeling like a banana. A long strip of the belt was hanging off the side and was banging into the engine as it turned...that was the knocking sound. What really upsets me is when I gave up and took the car to a garage and the guy didn't check my timing belt...I only didn't because I only changed it eight months ago...I feel incredibly lucky. Looking at the belt and the tensioner which was also bad, I probably had a month tops before good by engine. That is all I did, me and my buddy replaced the timing belt and tensioner and boom...the engine now purrs like a kitten..no more knock.

dar_cool

Are you sure the covers were put back on correctly last time. Belt could be coming apart from rubbing the timing belt covers. Even the ****tiest of cheap belt should last longer than a few months

Ohoopee

99% sure yes...I am human...I do screw up sometimes but this is not the first timing belt I have changed and I had my buddy helping me who has done it before as well...plus if it is rubbing the cover you can usually hear it...in my experience..I have never actually seen a belt "peel" like this one did.

JohnBoy26

Something was wrong that it peeled rather than it being down to a cheap belt imo. What brand was the belt?

dev100

Most motor factors won't supply crap timing belts it causes them to much hassle . Take it back to the shop and have them send it back to their supplier .

Either the fitting was done incorrectly or a failure in the making of the belt or maybe contaminants got on the belt I've even heard of fan belts breaking and the crap getting under the timing belt cover and destroying the belt and causing massive damage or something else caused the belt to fail.

I wouldn't be going back near that mechanic again though. He prob knew what it was and didn't want the bother of doing it or thought it was a big job and wanted nothing to do with it.

JohnBoy26

dev100 wrote: »

Most motor factors won't supply crap timing belts it causes them to much hassle . Take it back to the shop and have them send it back to their supplier .

Either the fitting was done incorrectly or a failure in the making of the belt or maybe contaminants got on the belt I've even heard of fan belts breaking and the crap getting under the timing belt cover and destroying the belt and causing massive damage or something else caused the belt to fail.

I wouldn't be going back near that mechanic again though. He prob knew what it was and didn't want the bother of doing it or thought it was a big job and wanted to do with it.

It might not be the mechanic's fault so it's a bit rich to say stay clear of him when you don't know the facts of what happened or have visually inspected the car.

dev100

JohnBoy26 wrote:

It might not be the mechanic's fault so it's a bit rich to say stay clear of him when you don't know the facts of what happened or have visually inspected the car.

The OP stated he brought it to a mechanic and he was charged 45 Euro and the mechanic had no answers other than having to strip engine to see where the problem was or it was an oil pump ....

Any good mechanic would check certain easy things before he d start stripping an engine for a noise . Example timing belts and fan belts. Good fault finding skills . Check the simple things first and rule them out and move onto the more complicated things.

Ohoopee

Agree 100% dev100...I won't go back to that Mechanic for ANYTHING even if he is the closest one to my home...I honestly don't even think he bothered to check the timing belt....he claimed he removed the drive belt and ran the engine without it to eliminate the problem...it is hard to beleive he would do all of that and not both looking at the timing belt. I have already taken the timing belt back...after seeing it and the receipt, he had no problems refunding me...I have never seen a timing belt "peel" like that anyway so I am inclined to believe it was some sort of defect in the belt. Lesson learned

CJhaughey

Ohoopee wrote: »

Agree 100% dev100...I won't go back to that Mechanic for ANYTHING even if he is the closest one to my home...I honestly don't even think he bothered to check the timing belt....he claimed he removed the drive belt and ran the engine without it to eliminate the problem...it is hard to beleive he would do all of that and not both looking at the timing belt. I have already taken the timing belt back...after seeing it and the receipt, he had no problems refunding me...I have never seen a timing belt "peel" like that anyway so I am inclined to believe it was some sort of defect in the belt. Lesson learned

What brand of belt was it so that others might know?

Ohoopee

Already taken it back...but I think it was a Contitech