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Bad bad noise

1587 Views 8 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  birddog
ok peeps I need an answer. The other night I was racing my friend in D not OD. and I think I may have forgot to switch into OD once it hit third (keep in mind I have an Auto). Well I was doing about 80 or so before I slowed to a stop. I don´t know if I switched or not I forgot and I dont know if it has to do with my current problem but it may be.

The night after I started hearing this tap tap tap tap from my engine. I pulled over and checked my oil and found it was a quart low so I added one and it still makes that noise.

I´ve been told that I blew my head gasket but my oil is as black as its always been. I´ve also been told I need a new timing belt.

Anyone have any suggestions? If you know what it is can you also tell me the cost of repairing it? thanks in advance.
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uh just curious, how long has it been since you changed the oil?
Black oil, means its usually dirty. What you want to see is "clean oil." If your oil looks like chocolate milk, that´s really bad, because that means you have water in your oil.

One sign of a blown head gasket: From cold start your car with the radiator cap off...if you see exhaust come up through your radiator...thats REALLY bad.

Another bad sound to hear, if it sounds like marbles rollin´ around in your head, that´s detonation. I guess if you advanced your timing too far and put a heavy enough load on the scort you could detonate, on bad gas.

anyhow g´luck
I just had my oil changed last week at walmart. I´ll have to take my radiator cap off and turn my car on to see what happens.
Also, I do hear what you may call marbles rolling around when I accelerate. mostly uphill though.

What does that mean?
if it sounds like marbles you need to get your scort into a shop or to a mechanic. "Marbles" usually means your detonating. Detonation is usually what occurs from cylinder pressure getting to high, or a "hot spot" in the cylinder. Usually the case of detonation is preignition. Think of it this way, as the piston is still moving up to the top of the cylinder (aka Top Dead Center), the fuel is ignited too early, and what you hear is the piston violently rattle back down without completing its cycle.

Cylinder pressures tend to go up and hot spots tend to form when the motor is under a heavy load, like going up a hill, or under boosted applications (my case).

Detonation after time and consistency can lead to blowing a headgasket or destroying the motor.

But before you freak out, engines with over head cam (sigle or double), get "valve train noise" when the oil gets hot. Its actually pretty normal. But you generally hear valve tapping when the motor is running, load or not.

So, here´s what to do. First thing, just in case you are hearing detonation, go get premium gas. Not cheap stuff. I recommend Chevron or Texaco...they tend to be good no matter where you live. If you´re still hearing it, add some Octane booster. Most stuff doesn´t work at all, but I´ve found that NOS brand stuff at Autozone actually works a little bit. And get it to a tech that can figure out why you´re detonating. Who knows, could be as simple as having plugs that are just too hot or gapped improperly, so you may need to just get new plugs, wires, cap and rotor ?

Another thing I´ve found...in general oil is oil. But if you switch to a synthetic oil and do the oil changes yourself, you notice alot of the little probs go away like valve tap. Switching to a synthetic oil and doing the change yourself you´ll end up spending about the same.
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Well in a couple of days when I need to fill up I´ll pump it full of some nice expensive gas and some octane booster. I´m also gonna switch to synthetic my next oil change. Hopefully all this will help.

I did notice the noise went a way for pretty much all of today I haven´t heard it again yet. But you never know with my little scort


I´ll try what you said and see if the noise ever returns and if some of my other problems go away. thanks.

Also, do you happen to know how to fix a code 186? it says "Fault Injector pulse width circuit / high" in my code reader book. I did a little research on my own and found it has to do with the Air/Fuel Ratio mix. Would I have to make adjust it to be more lean or what? Thanks again.
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That can explain alot. Looks like you´re probably running a lean on the top end. I dont know exactly what the code means, but you´ll probably want to pull a fuel injector and see if its in okay condition. Maybe its just malfunctioning.
well answered Blade. the synthetic oil will do a good job making noises go away. It also hides leaky valve stem seals.
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