Well, I was driving home from a friend's place last night and as I started to cruise away, I heard a slight sound at about 2200 RPMs. Not sure if I had just heard that correctly, I popped the car into neutral and brought up the RPMs only to hear the slight sound of what I believe to be rod knock. As soon as I let off the gas, I saw the tachometer drop all the way down to 0 (engine turned off). I attempted to start the car again and to my luck, it started up just fine. So to quickly check that the engine still had oil in it, I went to the nearest gas station and pulled out the dipstick. The oil was right below the bottom dot so I went ahead and put in the 5W-30 Castrol Fully Synthetic oil that I had in the back of the trunk. Well, I drove back home and the car is now sitting.

The odd thing is that the CEL blinks 10 times before starting the car. It's been doing that for quite some time now but I just thought that it was because I've been doing my own oil changes and not resetting the light but now that the car thinks that it has been more than 10,000 miles since the last change, the light has been blinking furiously.

Is there anything to check before coming to the conclusion that it is indeed rod knock? The thing that blows is that I was driving up and down steep hills yesterday, which could mean that the oil in the pan could have all sloshed to one side for extended amounts of time. The car has roughly 140,000 miles on it and was cared for extremely well. I am also the first owner so I know it was not abused. Oh yeah, the car is a 2002 SE with the an automatic gear box if that matters...

EDIT: I forgot to add that the knocking does not occur at idle. Only around the 2200 RPM mark. It is also VERY quiet, but audible enough if you concentrate on it. My friend was surprised that I could hear it.

 

My 95 makes the same sound it makes this sound between 2200 and 2500 nothing below that or above that rpm. Drive it 1hr and 45min. one way to work everyday. The sound never gets worse nor does it change rpm range. I have had new rod and mains put in and it still makes the same sound. Hope someone can tell us if this is normal.

 

Most high milage examples exibit this to one degree or another. It's when the rod bearings have gotten loose over time and literally 'float' under a no load condition. I've driven my '97 for over 80k with this going on and it's never gotten worst.

The 10 blink CEL is another thing altogether. It doesn't have anything at all to do with the oil.
Have it scanned at Deathzone Autoparts for codes and get back....

P

 

Hang on a sec, I thought that noise is because our pistons have a floating wrist pin, the connecting rod would move side to side slightly which causes the noise?

 

I think you guys are right. I drove the car back home (70+ mile drive) and I didn't hear anything coming out of the motor. I made sure to listen for any knocking noises from 2000 to 3000RPMs and I didn't hear a single tick. I'm guessing that the engine wasn't completely warmed up last night when driving back from my friend's house.

Oops, I meant to say "Maintenance Required Light" which flashed 10 times due to the oil thing. I looked around on google and figured out how to reset it. I'll probably take it to Autozone tomorrow just in case to see if there are any codes.

Btw, now my attention is turned towards why the car died when revving it in neutral. The car is still on the stock plugs and wires. Could this be it? The only maintenance we've done for the car are oil and tranny fluid changes. I'm guessing that the spark is blowing out, causing the engine to die. Any suggestions? Btw, the car idles just fine.

 

There are two types of piston pin arrangements.
A floating wrist pin
And a pressed wtist pin.

A floating wrist pin uses a bushed upper connecting rod journal, a corresponding oiling hole and snap rings to retain the pin in the piston.

A pressed wrist pin literally presses into the connecting rods' upper journal, doesn't require an oiling hole nor snap rings.

Any side to side motion on the part of the connecting rod is controlled by the side clearance between the crank journal and the connecting rod and remain separated by the hydrostatic pressure of the oil flowing from between the rod and crank.

P