Driving a bit agressively like I usually do, I pulled through 1st quickly and then brought up 2nd to about 6000 rpm, where I tried to shift into 3rd, but it just didn't go in. Though I didn't get into 3rd, and my transmission remained in neutral, my feet continued with the natural rythym of shifting, and my foot returned to the gas slightly, so my tach shot up to 7500. Weird I thought, to myself, I guess I don't have my normal fuel cut of 7200 now that I switched a p28 Hondata ecu.

The car continued to drive normal, still pulled good vaccum, no smoke etc. but it now has a bad clicking sound to it. It sounds like a diesel, with that clicking going on under the hood. I checked all the plugs and they look fine. I don't see any other symptoms of problems. But my motor's making a distinct clinking sound. I think it's coming from the top of the motor, but I can't be certain. It's not an exhaust leak either. I think I just over-revved my LS head and bent a valve maybe? What do you guys think?

Anyway, it looks like I'll be dropping in another cheap LS motor and doin it all over again.


Modified by Teg4e at 11:46 PM 1/1/2004

 

a clicking sound, i'm no expert and i'm probably wrong but could it be your valves? check your valve clearances?...

someone wil correct me!

Sorry to hear that though bud

 

From the limited info given, i would say- bent valve... do a compression test then a leak down test

 

maybe the valve lash adjustment got loose cause of the thing that holds the cams down could have cracked.

 

spin a rod bearing?

 

time to either look for a cheap ls head or buy some new valves

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Johnyquest &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">spin a rod bearing?</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

do a leakdown, that will tell you if your valves are alright or not.

 

sounds like your valves are ticking to me too. Get the valves checked then get some new ones.

 

First off, take off the valve cover and visually inspect everything... Much cheaper than just purchasing a new head... A friend of mine who is also on this board did something similar in stock LS... He overrevved his motor and it made this horrible ticking sound but still drove fine...

After the removing his valve cover we found that he backed off one the valve lash nuts that you loosen and tighted when doing a valve adjustment... We look around the head through some of the oil, and what do you know we found the nut with a magnet... He put it back on, tightened it, did a valve adjustment and everything worked perfectly...

Now he could have just been one lucky ****, but I'd suggest doing this before just going and purchasing a new head altogther... Just my .02...

 

good advice 4U2NV, and yeah it sounds like a bent valve to me

 

bent valve

 

yeah, my tuner mentioned this as being a possibility, i'm gonna try it tomorrow. Would my car drive any differently with a bent valve?

 

I doubt its a bent valve.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 4U2NV &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">After the removing his valve cover we found that he backed off one the valve lash nuts that you loosen and tighted when doing a valve adjustment... We look around the head through some of the oil, and what do you know we found the nut with a magnet... He put it back on, tightened it, did a valve adjustment and everything worked perfectly...</TD></TR></TABLE>

This happened to me two times w/ my LS motor. Damn valve lash nuts were always coming loose and when one popped off it sounded and drove exactly like what your describing. Good luck hope u find the valve lash nut. If worse comes to worse and u need another LS head I have 3 of them.

 

your car would drive like **** with a bent valve.. that cylinder wouldn't have any compression so the car would be running on 3 cylinders instead of 4.. i doubt its a bent valve.. it could be the adjusting nut.. or any of the following.. spun rod bearing.. spun wrist pin.. piston slap.. or needs a valve adjustment

 

i hear LS/VTEC in his future

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DIRep972 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This happened to me two times w/ my LS motor. Damn valve lash nuts were always coming loose and when one popped off it sounded and drove exactly like what your describing. Good luck hope u find the valve lash nut. If worse comes to worse and u need another LS head I have 3 of them.</TD></TR></TABLE>

cool thanks for the tips. what should i be looking for under the cover? what does a valve lash nut look like?

 

i dont see why spinning 7500 would cause any damage.. when i had my 90 ls i would spin it till 7300 all the time and no problems at all. i think you probably just need a valve adjustment.

 

like a nut.... hey, if you are needing a new head there is a guy on a local board selling a LS head for cheap....

http://www.carolinahondas.com/...=7537


-Erik

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Teg4e &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

cool thanks for the tips. what should i be looking for under the cover? what does a valve lash nut look like?</TD></TR></TABLE>

take off the valve cover and look under the cam. you will see a rocker arm inbetween the cam and ur retainer/valve/valvespring assembly. There will be a nut that you use to tighten/loosen the rocker arm when doing a valve adjustment. You will see a bunch of them and trust me, if one is missing, you will be able to tell. just pop that sucker off and take a look.

 

Yea, I bet it a nut from his rocker assy came loose, same thing happened to my boy with an LS.

 

ah, sweet! I just looked under the valve cover and found not one, but TWO of the valve nuts had come off. I've re-tightened them, and will get a valve adjustment soon to make sure everything's in order. Thanks guys!

 

u can find out if is a spun bearing or bent valves

get a non conductive pliers for this
idle ur car.,.
while u listening to the ticking noise
pull 1 spark plug at a time and find out if it goes away or not
if u remove and sounds quiets, and once u put plug it goes again, u have spun a bearings (rod) on wichever piston u working on....

if not , more likely a valve is tickin... just check for compression and leakdown test

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DIRep972 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I doubt its a bent valve.

This happened to me two times w/ my LS motor. Damn valve lash nuts were always coming loose and when one popped off it sounded and drove exactly like what your describing. Good luck hope u find the valve lash nut. If worse comes to worse and u need another LS head I have 3 of them.</TD></TR></TABLE>

damn dude! who the hell is doing your valve adjustments?sounds like a real pro.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Teg4e &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ah, sweet! I just looked under the valve cover and found not one, but TWO of the valve nuts had come off. I've re-tightened them, and will get a valve adjustment soon to make sure everything's in order. Thanks guys!</TD></TR></TABLE>



This seems to be a common problem with our boosted LS/B20's. I stopped shifting passed 7k...not easy after always having a B16 in my cars. Glad it worked out.