Even when moderately cold, ie. low 30'sF

 

It is EA82 from 92 Loyale with around 100K miles. I am not the main driver, so I don't really know what's going on with it, if it was ran low on oil or coolant or whatnot.

 

It wasn't doing it last winter. Any ideas? I was told by someone that it is worn out and doesn't have much time left. Though I find it hard to believe at that mileage.

have you just tried going to a thinner oil and it could be from someone running it low once

It has that SuperTech 10w-30 in it now.

 

Running low - wouldn't surprise me.

is it a knock or a ticking? I thought the same thing last year and then I came to the board and found out that EA82s valve lashers go out and they dont pump up so you hear a pretty loud ticking noise..

I thought my engine was going to go the first time I heard the noise.

 

Start the car, go out and listen and try to pinpoint a cylinder and area on the block/head/cam covers where the noise is coming from.

 

Does the noise go away after you warm the car up? What is the oil pressure at an idle before its warm and after its warm and whats the rpm when your driving?

 

I ran my car low on oil a few times and it got pretty noisy but after the next oil change it quieted down

Yes, it goes away when it warms up, actually a bit after it warms up, say in 15 minutes.

 

I cannot differfentiate between knock and tick. I think it is a knock.

 

I did not pay attention to oil pressure but will next time.

the way I figured mine out was put my hand on the cam covers and you can feel the tick through the cover

 

but yea if it goes away, its most likely the hydralic lashers

or take a long screw driver and stick it to the valve cover and place your ear on the other end then the same in the center of the block and you'll be able to tell which one it is

Sounds like piston slap. Specially since it goes away after 15 minutes. Both my EA82 and ER27 both "knock" for the first 10-15 minutes too. What happens is the aluminum piston in the steel sleeve of the cylinder, will be smaller than when it is warm. So when it's cold the piston is basically banging around in the cylinder, as the engine warms up, the pistons expand, and it goes away. It'll be fine as long as you let the engine just idle untill warm. I wouldn't rev it at all till the noise stops.

where ya live at? since your in virginia, i might be able to drop by sometime and listen to it for ya.. i can tell between rod knock and lifter tick very easily..

 

i remember you droppin by my place once for that ac condenser, so ya can't be too far away..

Thanks - I will get back to you shortly.

Weird, the knock went away complete.

 

Now, however, it sounds like I have a miss, or something similar. Something clicks in the area of distributor as far as I can tell and each click corresponds to a exhaust sound. It is intermittent without a pattern, but rather constant.

 

That's the best I can describe it. The spark plugs and wires are from this summer.

 

 

 

The second issue I encountered today, I found out out that the upper radiator hose was leaking right where it joints the radiator! It was dripping rather heavily. I retightened it so that seems to be resolved temporarily.

Sounds like an exhaust leak if it comes and goes like that - check for holes in the header, and for bad gaskets at the heads.

 

GD

How do I do check that, visually? Just look for obvious holes in the header? I didn't think that was possible to get a hole in the header, and how can you tell the gasket is bad?