Quick question ; Is it dead, or not ?

[Goo]

A couple of months ago whilst driving, my 1.4 K7M engine developed a noise, a worryingly loud noise that made me think the exhaust manifold had fallen off, but no it wasn't that, but it was definitely a loud thumping noise, it seemed was actually coming from the air filter housing of which I found was actually loose, that is rattling around on it's mountings kind of loose to find the fixings half unscrewed - all of them, to wonder why the mechanic who changed the air filter would have a need to it seems detach the air filter housing and there not refit it properly.

But the loud thumping noise is accompanied with a loss of power and a very unbalanced idle, to consider perhaps a cylinder is out of action, to wonder do I have a valve problem or is it possibly something else, perhaps something worse or if I'm lucky, not worse as in electrical or indeed ' noddy '

It's not a high mileage engine, it according to the car has only done 62k miles in 20 years.

Beyond the discovery of the loose air filter housing and a visual check of the exhaust system, I have not investigated further through the need to discover potentials first before I go any further.

Any ideas ?

 

[Bluebeard]

Put a video up.

 

[Goo]

Put a video up.

That's a good idea, better than trying to explain the noise and action , I'll try to do so over the weekend thanks

 

[Goo]

Okay we have a video but the symptoms I initially reported here were not apparent when we shot the video, to only guess perhaps they may become apparent when the engine has warmed up as the video was shot within five minutes of a cold start. From the video clearly Valve train clatter, the likes of which I have not heard before at all, never mind on this engine, to be mindful to remove the 'rocker cover' later this week to see what visual is going on. Incidentally after weeks of not having been started, it started straight away for there to be no engine management warning lights remaining lit on the dashboard.

 

[Goo]

Okay we have a video but the symptoms I initially reported here were not apparent when we shot the video, to only guess perhaps they may become apparent when the engine has warmed up as the video was shot within five minutes of a cold start. From the video clearly Valve train clatter, the likes of which I have not heard before at all, never mind on this engine, to be mindful to remove the 'rocker cover' later this week to see what visual is going on. Incidentally after weeks of not having been started, it started straight away for there to be no engine management warning lights remaining lit on the dashboard.

 

[rbeazer]

Okay we have a video but the symptoms I initially reported here were not apparent when we shot the video, to only guess perhaps they may become apparent when the engine has warmed up as the video was shot within five minutes of a cold start. From the video clearly Valve train clatter, the likes of which I have not heard before at all, never mind on this engine, to be mindful to remove the 'rocker cover' later this week to see what visual is going on. Incidentally after weeks of not having been started, it started straight away for there to be no engine management warning lights remaining lit on the dashboard.

Is that even running on all 4 cylinders ?

 

[Goo]

Is that even running on all 4 cylinders ?

Running as it was when we took the video it was a lot more balanced than when it was when the noise was booming through the air box, I was quite surprised.

 

[VXR killer]

Sounds like it miss firing

 

[SharpyClio]

That’s sounds to me like it’s running on low oil or has been run on low oil?!

 

[R3k1355]

 

[Goo]

Sounds like it miss firing

Misfiring was what I thought when there was the thumping sound emanating from the air filter housing, but those symptoms were not apparent when I took the video. The symptoms that were apparent, the valve train clatter made me think someone had been at the valve clearance adjusters and not tightened the lock nuts up thus allowing the adjusters to do their own thing of which might have included closing clearance gaps to keep valves open when they should be closed for the thumping to potentially be valve seat gas leak.

The car had a service back in November but adjusting the valve clearances was not part of the deal, so none should have been under that cover, but noted coil pack fixing bolt missing and loose air filter housing on the car's return.

When it's not raining or blowing a hooley I aim to remove that cover to see what's going on.

 

[Goo]

That’s sounds to me like it’s running on low oil or has been run on low oil?!

It had a garage service in November of which included oil change. The weirdness started after the car had MOT repairs, where the only thing that should have been touched was a rear wheel bearing.

 

[Goo]

It had a garage service in November of which included oil change. The weirdness started after the car had MOT repairs, where the only thing that should have been touched was a rear wheel bearing.

And yeah the garage that did the MOT work later supposedly ' looked at ' the fault, to spend surprisingly little time doing it to tell me a piston was breaking up, to account for the thumping noise for their advice be to look for another car.

 

[Goo]

Okay, just a brief update in order to inform those of whom may have been wondering;

Exasperated with the lack of professional help and with nothing to lose given I had replaced the daily ride with a Honda I took to removing the rocker cover to immediately find the fault staring at me ; The two endmost rocker shaft securing bolts had loosened for one of them to even be so partially out it had deformed the hole in the cylinder head casting it screws into, but fortunately the threads are undamaged . Looking on the inside of the cover I found markings where the spring clips had clearly repeatedly impacted, of which could of course be the ' ringing ' noise I heard in the fault, but clearly two cylinders were compromised, one completely and one I would suspect partially.

The solution in the first instance is to solve the deformed screw hole so the the shaft can be secured, check shaft for straightness and correctly tighten all shaft fixings and then reset the valve clearances and then see what transpires. The only problem now is summoning the energy to go out there and do it as I said I replaced it with a Honda i-vtec

How these fixings came to loosen is a question I now ponder to at least have read my problem is not that uncommon to describe a potential manufacturing lack of care..