Motor Noise

[Eddie]

Have tapping noise at bottom of motor. Only happens at about 2,200 - 2,500 RPM's under lo or no load. Sofar I have unknown machanics listen and they say it has a bad piston rod, or piston bearing on one of the cylinders.

The car has 106,000 miles and uses oil with no smoke and no drips?

Solutions so far have been: 1) Replace the bearings and the bad rod only if no damage to the crank $875.

2) Get a rebuild short block $2,900 installed.

3) You must rebuild the entire motor for $3,800 - $4,200

I have a nice Ironman and love it but this is almost what I paid for it at 46,000 miles?

Need help in the decision?

Eddie

[Y33TREKker]

Unknown mechanics? My first suggestion would be to get a second opinion, but unfortunately, what they are saying may be true.

If the bearings are the cause, one diagnostic that could be done would be to install an oil pressure gauge in place of the oil pressure sending unit and watch for fluctuations in the rpm range you mentioned. Normally, the pressure will increase and be constant as rpm's increase. Bad bearings will cause a drop in pressure, or at least fluctuations.

[Mrcln1]

Sounds like it may be done, but definitely get a good professional opinion. From my experiences and I've been through this twice in the little over a year that I have been a VX owner, it sounds like mine did when it was done. If it is bad and you wanna keep the VX, I recommend getting a new engine from Isuzu. I tried a reman and after the first one developed rod knock with 4k on it I'll have enough in the engine replacement to have gotten a new engine installed by the dealer with a much better warranty.

Good Luck,

Mrcln1