Well i posted before ,this sound came about after a short drive following the replacement of the intake manifold gasket.. the idle bounces about 150 rpm up and down.. i ran lucas oil treatment through it to no avail... i drove the car around the block a few times and let it warm up. The noise increases to a fluttering during acceleration. When accelerating to around 30 mph the check engine light will flash on and off quickly sometimes disappearing for a second or so, when i let off the gas and coast the knocking sound seems to pretty much disappear for a few seconds.

I have linked to a video, any help on this or things i can check would be greatly appreciated. A crappy mechanic was the one who did the gasket job, and i wouldnt put anything by him as far as half assing things or missing something.. owning a rotary powered car, i am not very knowledgable in the piston engine department, but i am mechanically capable of doing things. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXxpre-PIlQ

 

Sounds like a broken or damaged valve stem.

May be a major repair.

A contaminant may have entered the engine during gasket change.

 

take off the valve covers, make sure all the rockers are tight. the intake and exhaust pushrods vary by around 1/4" the 6 long ones for the exhausts, 6 short ones for the intakes.

my guess is that either
A: didnt tighten up one or more rocker arms...
B: didnt realize diferent length pushrods/or swapped 1 pair on accedent... affected pushrods you should find loose/bent.

thats where i'd start lookin anyways.

 

What i do know about the gasket job that i forgot to mention is there was a prior helicoil into the head from what i remember him saying, and i guess he redid the helicoil before he put it back together or something to that extent. This is coming from a friend who talked to the guy who did the job.

I will check the other stuff, after undoing the valve covers what am i looking for, im sorry im kind of ignorant on this stuff, but i understand things.

 

after removing the valve covers, try to wiggle/twist/move each of the rocker arms.

i'm guessing one or more would be obviously out of position. if so i would remove both the intake and exhaust pushrods for that cylinder and make sure there the longer one was installed on the exhaust and the short one on the intake, or if one is bent. its possible it was simply just forgotten/never tightened. if theyre the same length, i'd remove all pushrods, check that theyre straight and then reinstall.

if you find one, or more, only slightly loose,just try to tighten it up.

 

OK i found the problem i think but my digital camera died... under the back (nearest cabin) side valve cover i messed with each of the spring like things.. what i found is that the one farthest towards the driverside i could lift up the piece that sits over the spring part, if that makes any sense... what exactly does this mean.

 

ok, the part that sits over the spring part is the rocker. the spring part is the valve spring.

now if you look at a rocker arm that is tight, on the opposite end from a vavle spring, there is a pushrod holding against the bottom side.

there should be a pushrod under the loose rocker

hopefully they just didnt tighten it.....

pull it out and check that its straight, if so remove the other pushrod for the same cylinder, check that it is straight, compare the lengths of the 2 pushrods, one should be slightly longer than the other. the vavle springs are not in a straight line, the intake valves are slightly more tward the center of the engine, the exhausts are slightly more outwards. hopefully the longer pushrod came from the exhaust, and the shorter rod from the intake.

if everything is good and correct so far, re install the pushrods in thier correct positions, tighten down the rocker arms, re check all rocker arms to be tight. re install the valve covers and fire it up. the noise should be greatly improved almost immediately, but it may need to run for a little bit to clear up competely as the lifter at the lower end of the pushrod may be slow to fill with oil

 

Some guys just have the Motor Gods looking-out after them ... don't they? When I heard the noise I cringed. I thought it was a stuck valve hitting the top of a piston! That would be a rotten way to bring-in the Holiday, ... huh? I hope there's no harm done and you're back in action soon!

Best wishes for a No-knockin' Holiday,

Rick Massey

 

for sure i hope so, im going to check things out tomorrow morning as its late and i need to get some sleep but i will check back in.

 

Upon further inspection the rocker bolt on that particular rocker is indeed the one that has been helicoiled into the head... the bolt will not catch right in the threading thus i am unable to tighten it any further without the bolt just spinning...

I have an idea or two on what might need to be done, but if anyone has some more sound advice i would like to get a few opinions before i try anything.

Thank again