Ariel.Club Forum

Hey All - I'm looking for suggestions.

My Ecotec engine started making VERY BAD noises the other day; it sounded like something was clanking around.

I took it to a shop, that's pretty good, but wanted to get some other suggestions.

The noise is coming from the rear, right of the car (passenger side), very close to where the serpentine belt is, but further back.
I'm told that the area is the water pump area.
The noise sounds like a metal on metal grating noise.

To begin with, I was very concerned that there was an oil issue, but oil level seems normal.

The shop ran a compression test on each of the cylinders, and the engine passed.
While running that test, they had to turn the engine over manually, and during that process they said that the engine rotated well, and it did not feel like there was anything broken, or rubbing.
So, it sounds like the large part of the engine is okay.

The shop removed the inspection panel on the timing chain, and did find that the timing chain tensioner was broken.  The chain was therefore running slack, and rubbing against the side of the engine, however the chain was not broken, and was still basically functioning without slippage - so nothing got broken (that we are aware of.)
They replaced the tensioner, and some of the bad sounds have no gone away.

However, the engine is still making nasty noises, from the same general area.

They have now removed the front cover of the engine, and cannot see anything wrong.
When then turn the engine by hand, they cannot repoduce the sound - only when the engine is running.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where to look next, or what might be broken?

Thanks.
Nick.

There are several items down in that area.  The water pump is driven by the crank on a seperate chain - also on that chain is the balance shafts, so mabe something going on there.

Could be your water pump is just giving up the ghost.  Easy replacement really, I'd start there.

Another item in that general area is the oil pump.  The oil pump is driven by the crank, via the crank pulley.

I'd start with the water pump.

your header is coming loose

tighten it up


almost guarantee that's the problem as I had the same and we have the same exhaust

sounded like it was internal but it's not


I posted a video of it here lemme search for it

http://forum.atomclub.com/https://atomc ... ic.php?t=8

ps the bolts won't feel loose but they are....crank em down.

can't remember the torque but check my post above

Does it do it more/worse at start up until oil pressure comes up?

Have them check to make sure that the cams are still in time as they can jump without tensioner.

What happens is the chain goes slack between the cams then slaps and the tensioner goes full stroke and slaps.

Any update on this? I'm beginning to pack and need to know if I need to bring my own beer.. 

Engine needs to be pulled...

Metal found in oil filter. Seems to be brass + other.

I'm not very happy right now.

No wca for me.

Sorry to hear that Nick, I was hoping it was just your tensioner ...

Hopefully it was just the tensioner/chain flailing about. But metal circulating about is not good..

Not really certain were there is brass in an aluminum engine, usually once you get to the brass there are large aluminum pieces on the track behind you.

That's a real bummer, Nick... I hope that your engine problems are swiftly fixed! Any chance of you coming up just for the party?

OuchAAAAARG!!  Man, sorry Nick.         

I can't help it though;  I'm thinking "Maybe Nick will build some insanely fast bullet proof beast from the damaged motor".  But sometimes my positive thinking happens at unappropriate times. 

Nicholas wrote: Engine needs to be pulled...

Metal found in oil filter. Seems to be brass + other.

Any idea what the "other" is? I've had my engine oil tested at each change since the Atom was new, and there has never been any brass in the samples, not even from wearing in.

Can you drop the oil pan to inspect the crankshaft journals? You don't need to take the engine out of the car for this - with careful wiggling you can get by w/ just removing the passenger-side motor mount bolts and jacking the engine up about 1/4".

With that and a borescope looking down the cylinders with the spark plugs removed, you should be able to get a quick overview of the major engine components.

I'm not very happy right now.

No wca for me.

Can you come up just for the social events?

What Terry says is true, several of us have changed pistons with the engine in the car.  Brass in the oil does not sound good though and the crank journals are what I was thinking also.  Which will get to that oil pressure question.

Update.

It turns out that an oil seal was faulty.  The bottom of the engine has now failed.

Shinoo and Sector 111 have kindly stepped forward and are going to rebuild the engine.
It looks like this latest adventure will soon have a happy ending.

Which oil seal failed to cause all the problems?