Yet another engine tick/knock thread

Well, just 3 miles to go while on my way to work on Tuesday, my heart skipped a beat (or 100) when suddenly a tick/knock started happening from under the hood. It wasn't so bad until I pulled into the right lane in a tunnel I drive through to get to work. Opened my passenger window to listen to the sound reflection from the tunnel wall, and man did my heart sink even further into my stomach. I pulled into the employee parking garage and shut her down. First thing that crossed my mind, was when I last checked my oil level, answer: 2.5 weeks ago and topped off. So I checked and of course the oil level was right at the tip of the dip stick. I borrowed the company car to grab some oil (only ever used mobile1, eneos or royal purple) and topped off. Well, I decided to crank her over one time to get a better listen as to what it is so I recorded it as well. Here it is:

Isuzu Vehicross 6VE1 Engine Tick/Knock (Youtube) - be prepaired, every time I replayed the video I cringed and whined.

Is this rod knock or the timing belt tensioner pulley knocking on the engine block? Or both?

I'm deathly afraid that it is rod knock. If it is, I can't afford to get her fixed any time soon. Let alone have a place to store the VX.

I'm so crossing everything on me that it is just the tensioner pulley, because that can be done on the driveway and I have the tools/space to do that, but not a full overhaul.

Oil change is done every 3-4k miles, I drive 90% freeway to and from work (30 miles round trip) mostly rush hour traffic in the evening where with this 105* heat started showing signs of engine temp rising, but never more than 3/4th as turning off my A/C brings it back down to normal. Only thing I needed to change was my EGR, which was on the list of things to do this weekend. I've soaked it in seafoam, and made sure the tube was clear, but CEL code P0401 was still popping up.

To make matters worse, the eclipse is also down. We have the block on the engine stand torn down because of a snapped timing belt, valves embedded on one piston, cylinder wall scratched pretty bad, and head destroyed... So there goes the family backup car... <sarcastic tone>Don't you love it when everything just falls off track?:yeso:</sarcastic tone>

UPDATE: Check this post by SilverBullet75. It contains examples of the difference between rod and tensioner sounds.

UPDATE2: Timing Belt Hydraulic Tensioner Failure Tick - A video of the tensioner pulley bouncing around under the timing belt covers.

Oh no A-L! So Sorry!
Did you listen to the audio on the two clips SilverBullet posted last month with the two different sounds?
http://www.vehicross.info/forums/sho...96&postcount=6

I just listened to them both again - unfortunately I think your frequency sounds more like the rod but I really don't know :(

Yeah, sorry dude, but I have to agree. It does sound like rod knock.
Especially the initial start up. The bearing gets some oil then quiets down a little. Sounds just like my Trooper did. To the T.

The initial high frequency "tap" sounds like valves/"lifters", but then it switches to what sounds like a rod :(.

BTW, what year/model Eclipse?

@VX-Kat - Thanks, I saw that post several weeks ago. Must've just slipped my mind.

@SilverBullet75 - Thanks again, I added the post link that Kat mentioned to the OP... ... Bummed...

@Leon R - I thought so too about the lifters/valves. As for the eclipse, its a 93GS. It is actually my second one, I had a 91GS back in 2000. I love the 1st gens for some reason. Before all this happened, I was actually looking at a 91GSX AWD Turbo. But thats not happening now:mado:

Maybe my ears are a little off, but it almost sounds like a Pffffft, Pfffffft, Pffffffft of an exhaust leak, like maybe the EGR tube broke off. That would be less catastophic than a rod knock. So, I vote for "None of the above".

Unfortunately, I think you answered your own question when you mentioned the oil was at the bottom of the dipstick. As noted many times in the past, VX's seem to have zero tolerance for low oil level regardless of type used. I use Amsoil 10W-30 synthetic and check it every day, yup, I'm that paranoid...Sorry to hear of your second ride down!

Rod knock for sure man !

If you're interested, I might be selling my vx. I live in Denver. Not too far from Vegas.

FINALLY after almost 5 months I got my VX up and running. It was a huge learning experience swapping the motor!!! I've only ever worked on 1g 4G63s (DSM). Now that everything is buttoned up, I'm going to crack open my original motor and check out the damage... But it feels good to be back on the road!:yeso:

Welcome back !!!

Post some camera shots the old engine to peek @ the damage.

Uggg, now i'm getting another tick. It really sounds like the timing belt tensioner. Just like the video SilverBullet posted in his thread. What worries me is I replaced all the timing belt components before I dropped the engine in... I'll have another video uploaded tomorrow when I get the chance.

Nice! I am another DSMer who will be venturing into the Usuzu engines :). I can't wait to see your dissection photos!

I probably wont be tearing into the old engine till after the holidays... Work and Life is pretty busy from here on out. :( And I still have the eclipse to get up and running as well! :mado:

But when I do, I will be taking a lot of photos of the tear down for reference use and such for the vxwiki.

I have been tearing down my old engine (got stalled out on it for now), but I have been taking lots of pictures if anyone wants to see any part of how a VX engine goes together. I have taken everything off of the front and top of the engine, and have removed the passenger side head. Next will be to remove the driver side head and eventually split the block open and get into the internals to see how it all ticks. I had a burned valve on cylinder three, but I have no idea how bad the wear is in the rest of the engine. The ultimate goal is to get it re-built so I'm not too sure how thrilled a shop will be with a completely dis-assembled engine being dropped off on their door step.:_confused

Mark...since you have it torn down why not just rebuild it yourself? You'll already be half way there! :D

Billy, don't think that I haven't already thought about it. If I was THAT mechanically inclined I would be doing a lot more work on the VX. Actually I don't think that it would be all that difficult to rebuild the engine, but I will need to send it somewhere to make sure that the cylinders are still round and haven't been ovaled (yeah, it's a word:_confused) out. I'll also have to either get new heads or have mine re-built since one of the valves is burned. Also need to drill the drain back holes in the pistons (or get new pistons) to make sure that the engine doesn't burn oil if it ever gets installed in another Zu.

Maybe that will be my winter project....

Added a new video to the OP (Update2) that shows the timing belt tensioner pulley bouncing around as well as making a lot of noise.