poomwah

I think I'm going to cut the oil filter open tomorrow, and if it warms up like its supposed to on tuesday, I'll pull the oil pan

Everything looks good with the engine running. And the noise isn't any louder without the valve cover on. This tells me that it's not in the valve train

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uQpx2rLbVWI&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DuQpx2rLbVWI

I think I have more than 1mm. And I'm not seeing any spring. Did the video of the side play work for you?

doesn't seem to be any excessive lash in the rockers not sure if this matters, but I just drained the oil and strained it. Couldn't find my strainer or any screen, so I used a t-shirt, boy that was fun, LOL. Anyway, there was a SLIGHT, very slight hint of sparkle in the oil, small enough that it went through the shirt, if you look at the oil at just the right angle, you can sort of see really fine sparkle. It doesn't show up in pictures. A rod bearing would have left more than that in the oil right?

should there be lateral play in the rockers? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQpx2rLbVWIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQpx2rLbVWI

pulled the valve cover anyway, haven't checked clearance yet, too cold outside, the lock was frozen on the shed and I couldn't get to the feeler gauges, LOL

odd thing, not sure if this means anything or not. I got a better stethoscope today. And I noticed that the sound is just as loud on the right head as it is on the block. And with the scope on the front edge of the head right up by the valve cover mating surface, I can hear a metallic kind of timber to the sound, a brighter, almost ringing tone amidst the knocking sound. Is this just bottom end echoing through the head, or is a sign that the problem is inside the head? And I don't know if its just because of acoustics, but, the loudest place for the noise is on the intake manifold. Is that just the bottom end noise echoing through the hollow intake manifold, or is that a sign of something else?

thanks, I had been keeping an eye on the oil. The level was good

leave it to me to totally destroy an engine in 2 days.

I put about a quart into the recovery bottle. not sure why it was low. It didn't store a code. I'm not sure why, I figured since the light had been on, that even though the light was off, that there should have been a stored code. If it's not stupid cold I'll drain the oil tomorrow and strain it and report back. The belt tensioner isn't bounching. Can the oil pan be pulled while the engine is in the car?

I recently picked up a 99 OBS 2.2 AT 126K timing belt and water pump done at 104K It ran a little rough sometimes, but most of the time it was ok. The check engine light was on when I got it, but went out shortly afterwards. There are no codes stored on the computer. I was driving about 50mph and it started losing power, I was on a busy road with nowhere to pull over, the shoulder was filled with a mountain of plowed snow, so I tried to keep it going until I could get off the road, by the time I got to where I could pull over, I had it floored just to keep it moving. The engine was still quiet at this point. As soon as I let up on the gas, it died. I tried restarting it and it cranked but sputtered and stumbled and would not restart. The temp gauge never went over half (don't know if it's accurate or not), and the heater blew hot air the whole time. The engine compartment smelled really hot. The oil level was good. I added about a quart of coolant. After I let the car sit for about 45 minutes, I tried to start it again. It fires right up, but it sounds like someone is taking a hammer to the engine. I tried moving the car to a better place, a parking lot instead of the side of the road, and it had very little power. After having it hauled home on a flatbed, I pulled the accessory belts, still the same noise. I pulled the timing cover and the noise didn't get any louder. The timing marks are still lined up, and I put a stethoscope on every non moving part under the timing cover, including the bolts on the idlers, Noise isn't coming from there. I pulled spark plug wires one at a time, it changed the idle of course, but that's all. No one plug wire made a difference in the sound other than slowing it down a little. What do you guys think? main bearing?

thanks olnick

thanks again john, 90-95 will work for me :] I'd actually prefer an older one (mid 80's hatch would be my first choice) but the older ones are getting WAY too hard to find, especially around here

john, thank you for the craigslist suggestion. I posted on there, but I haven't had any responses that werent' spam. and for the record, I'm looking for something for less than 1000

if so how much? and would you be interested in trading for a 90 bronco II 4x4?

better yet, anyone want to trade a sube for a 90 bronco II 4x4?