18RG Playing up after thrashing.

[JadeEstevez]

Okay, On Friday I went on a Celica/Supra cruise and I was trying to keep up with the Supra's through the hills, I did quite well until I heard a loud knock and then a constant tapping coming from the engine. I babied her home... She idles a bit rough now but still had decent power. I went to a few places and asked what they think it sounds like shims need readjusting and one could have come out. I took the valve cover off and sussed it out, They are all within specs of the green bible. I went to drive today and it started playing up when under load but revs fine when in neutral? What the fuck is happening?

By the way, The head was recently done, New shims, double valve springs, All the valves checked over, etc etc...

So what does everyone think this tapping is? It's got me and my house mate beat.

[Celica RA45]

sounds like big ends rev it up on idle and if it makes knocking noises ,your bearings are stuffed .18rg have crap sump and are known for surging

[JadeEstevez]

After all that money I fucking spent... I don't have much luck with the R series engines >___>

I gave it a rev and it develops into a knocking, But the knocking sounds more top end then bottom? Is that just the sound travelling within the block or something?

Fuck. It's my daily too...

[Dazza]

When bigend bearings go, the piston hits the head sometimes so the noise is loudest up top. Have a look through the spark plug holes to see if a piston is hitting the head. if you cant get hold of a borescope then solder a small 12 volt globe to some speaker wire and poke the globe down the plug hole so it light up inside your bore so you can have a look around.

[MorGo]

Rod bearing.. some of them busted. Do not drive anymore and get the bearings sorted.

[Silly Rabbit]

Yep spun big end bearing.......did the same thing while running in the 6Hr event at Winton. Not knowing what I know now about how they get massive oil surge.

I thought since my oil pressure light wasn't coming on all was sweet but for the couple of times I did look at my oil pressure gauge the needle was swinging around like a mad thing. Brought her in and got her towed home cos she was sick. Pulled the engine out and stripped down and yes the bearings were well knackered.

.....i actually have one of the bearing shells sitting on my desk in front of me as a reminder to pay attention to gauges

...good luck in getting her fixed.

[JadeEstevez]

Kinda hard not to drive it when it's my daily... Shit I don't have the facilities to remove the engine either...

[lexsmaz]

As has been said it doesn't sound to good ..

To help confirm the noise is the Big end bearing at fault start & warm the engine up & get it running at the RPM where the knock is audible & remove No 1 spark plug lead & listen to the knocking noise & see if it diminishes in sound & refit the lead, listen especially to when you refit the lead & if its the bad cylinder you will get a real knock when you refit the lead, if there is no real difference in the noise work your way down to the next cylinder & so on & listen to them ( only have one lead off at a time though ) ..

Could also be a broken valve spring hence the rough running, but you wont get a loud knock though, but the comp pressure could be causing the valve to slam shut or even hitting the piston which would certainly cause some loud noises ..

[JadeEstevez]

Wouldn't be the valve springs, I broke one with the last head I had so with this one I went heavy duty double valve springs
I'll try suss it out sometime soon. Thanks everyone for the help, Bummer it's bad news though.

[S. Lowlux]

Now is the time to do something about the poor oil sump design. Look back in the tractor engine thread at the pics of mine.
If the pump starved for oil, did it scour its internals as well ?
O.

[JadeEstevez]

Patience, I should be able to suss out what really happened next weekend, Maybe earlier I'll update and let everyone know, I'm curious what fucked up.

[JadeEstevez]

I had a mate come round today and have a listen, He reckons its too quite to be a bearing and said it could possible be the hydraulic chain tensioner could have crapped out and it's just a slack chain, Hence it getting a little louder through the revs. We might suss it out tomorrow and if it's that I'll just fix it, If not I have another running RG lines up, I'll just swap heads and go again Also looking into baffling the sump.
S. Lowlux - Could you post up a link?