2.8L Knock or rattle at idle

[wildbill23c]

Ok, so a couple days ago I went out and started the b2 to let it run and charge the battery since I've got an oil leak from the front of the oil pan I've not been driving it. I started it and had to keep the engine at slightly above idle for a minute or so until it warmed up enough to idle on its own. It's been in the single digits and negative temps for a few weeks hasn't been above freezing in over a month. Anyhow after I let it idle for a couple minutes I revved the engine a couple times then let it go back to idle. After this, it has a horrible rattle or knocking noise coming from around the back of the engine somewhere. I can't figure out what it would be that would cause it to just start knocking or rattling all of a sudden, its not the normal valve train noise its much louder, I initially thought it was a rod but the noise goes away once you get above idle speed.

What should I start looking for or at? I still have about 40psi for oil pressure and temperature stays around 195 degrees. The rattle or knock seems to quite down a lot and at times disappears after the engine is warmed up.

 

[wildbill23c]

Well the B2 is going in tomorrow for diagnosis of the knocking, was pretty bad this afternoon, so I'm thinking something major is wrong this time. Sounds too internal to be something easy.

 

[wildbill23c]

Engine will be pulled on Monday, shop can't figure out where the noise is but they're suspecting a bearing in the back of the engine is toast which at this point would not surprise me I kind of wondered about a lack of oil on the back side of the engine so maybe when they tear it down I'll get some better answers. Going to have all the seals and gaskets done while its pulled.

 

[wildbill23c]

Well found out this afternoon that my knock & vibration problem that suddenly surfaced was caused by the flywheel coming lose. Question why on earth did it come lose all of a sudden? You can grab the flywheel and jiggle it around. I think its been lose for a while though just not this bad as the starter has sounded kind of funny every time I've started it since I picked it up.

Just glad its not a major internal engine problem. And hopefully the flywheel issue isn't a huge deal either.

 

[wildbill23c]

Well the transmission is going back in tomorrow, all of the flywheel bolts were replaced today, several were stripped out, guessing the previous owner changed the flywheel and most likely didn't put the bolts back in and torque them down so they worked lose and destroyed the threads on them. Monday its getting a new oil pan gasket set, and the transmission gear oil is being changed as well, probably will have the oil/filter done again too since there was still some coolant in the system from the head gasket replacement.

 

[tidmarshsmiths5]

wildbill...in my limited knowledge, I bet your knock/rattle at idle is the flywheel...haha! I wish I was that good. I can't imagine the flywheel coming loose, but then again I can't believe how much oil comes out of these valve cover gaskets either. Glad you're getting it fixed.

The job these auto shops do (schools) - pretty good work? My brother has suggested that before but I've never looked into it.

 

[wildbill23c]

Man your diagnosis was spot on, how did you manage to figure that out LOL.

I don't know how good every high school auto shop is, but I know the high school shop where I live has some really good kids in it who do a lot of their own automotive work, as of right now they seem to be doing a better job with my bronco 2 than the local certified mechanics many of which couldn't get the carburetor to work on it to begin with after 2 shops I said the hell with them and told them I wasn't paying them for screwing it up more, about an hours worth of messing around with the carb with one of the kids who's family I'm friends with, we got the thing tuned pretty good, once I got the computer disconnected it runs awesome now, just that initial knocking that suddenly occurred about a week and a half ago, scarred the crap out of me, I seriously thought great another major problem with limited income how am I supposed to replace the engine now. I'm so glad it was a flywheel issue, but I don't have a heated shop or garage to work in and at 3-5 degrees below zero for those few days it was impossible for me to even attempt to work on it myself. Since the bronco 2 is already basically torn apart now I'm having them do the rear main seal, new oil pan gasket set, and changing all of the fluids this week. Other than the rust issues and the previous owner tearing the interior carpeting out its still a pretty descent vehicle, I don't mind driving a beater around, saves me gas when I'm able to drive it plus its more fun because my newer truck has all the electronic traction control crap in it, so its absolutely no fun to drive, plus it doesn't get very good gas mileage in town, the Bronco 2 I was averaging around 15-17mpg in town after I got it tuned right. My truck I'm lucky to get 12mpg in town it does great on the highway running around about 23mpg but forget short trips around town with it LOL. Haven't had a chance to run the bronco on the open highway enough to find the highway economy but if I'm getting around 15-17 in town I can imagine at least 20mpg on the highway probably more given its a 5 speed manual.

If you are hard up on funds to do work on your vehicle's I would seriously give your local high school auto shop a try. I know my local high school auto shop kids love the work, gives them experience, and they get graded on participation here so the more they get to work on the better their grades and their experience level will be. The instructor won't let a vehicle leave without inspecting it himself and doing a short test drive in it to be sure they didn't mess anything up. I've had my Bronco into the school shop 3 times now, and they haven't let me down yet. The first time was just a routine service to kind of get the oil/filter changed as a way to determine if my thoughts were correct on a blown head gasket, the second time it was in they replaced both head gaskets for me and changed the oil/filter again. This time it is the flywheel and oil pan gaskets. The kid that's doing most of the work inspected the clutch and says its in really good shape so that's a plus he thinks it was changed not to long ago so if that's the case it should be good for me for many miles, I've never worn out a clutch I've had components fail but never have personally worn the clutch itself out.

If I would have had all this work done at an actual shop I would have been parking the bronco for many years as there's no way I could have afforded to have the head gaskets done or this flywheel mess fixed either. These boys have done a great job so far, and this week I should have the bronco 2 back home. They asked how soon I needed it and I told them to take their time and work on it when they could so they've been really good about keeping me updated on the progress, including the head gaskets well ok those the previous owner bought and never had installed but the oil pan gaskets, and new bolts for the flywheel I've sunk a total of $20 into the bronco and saved a couple thousand dollars in labor by having the high school kids work on it. I live in a small redneck town so there's tons of high school kids who love to work on cars around here. The actual mechanic shops after a mess I had with a previous truck I'll never trust the so called certified techs they have here ever again. They literally cost me a vehicle by not fixing what they messed up but it ended up costing them in the long run because the next person that got that truck ended up having major problems with it and luckily I got to talk to the guy so he knew what was up with it and made them fix it for nothing.

 

[wildbill23c]

Well here's the ending to this mess and a new mess in the works. I'm not really sure if the flywheel ordeal was an accident. After everything was torqued down and the starter put back in and the vehicle started or well attempted to be started the starter isn't even hitting the flywheel, so I'm guessing the starter wasn't working correctly to begin with so loosening the flywheel to allow it to be closer to the starter was the previous owner's fix, and in the process the flywheel loosened up enough to cause all the knocking. So now the starter is going to be replaced along with a rear main seal here soon as well.