Question : '02 Impala 3400 SFI Really weird noise...

[fieroboom]

Hey guys, just did a top end rebuild on this engine. The reason for the top end rebuild was it overheated, which blew a head gasket, resulting in low compression. I pulled the heads & sent them to the machine shop; they weren't warped, but all the valves had to be cut. I purchased a new gasket set, and cleaned all the gasket mating surfaces. When I got the heads back, I reassembled everything, got the engine back in the car, it fired right up on the first try, and now I have the "Low Oil Pressure" idiot light, and this noise:

http://grandesigns.net/M2U00281.MPG

I don't have an oil pressure gauge, and can't get one right at this moment, so i have no idea what the actual pressure is. The noise is a high pitched vibration, and with a piece of tubing, it appears to be coming from the camshaft area at the rear (pass side) of the engine. You can place your hand on the intake manifold and slightly feel this vibration also.

Can anyone provide any insight, suggestions, or experience on this please?

I'm prepared for the worst... Camshaft, rod, and main bearing replacement, but I'd like to have a better idea of what's going on if anyone knows.
Thanks so much.
-Paul

[95Grand-Am]

If you don't have any oil presure make sure you put the oil pump drive together right. I have seen the shaft slip to the side when it was assembled.

[pmaniac69]

I can't watch the video, won't load

did you lube everything while putting it back together? how hot did it get? possibility of a cam bearing went bad is there

thats all I got unless the video loads

[fieroboom]

If you don't have any oil presure make sure you put the oil pump drive together right. I have seen the shaft slip to the side when it was assembled.

Well, I spun the oil pump drive shaft up with a drill & verified spurting oil from the filter holes, so I'm pretty sure it's in correctly...

I can't watch the video, won't load

did you lube everything while putting it back together? how hot did it get? possibility of a cam bearing went bad is there

thats all I got unless the video loads

Yeah, I lubed everything up, and right before I dropped it back in the car, I filled the crankcase w/oil, connected the starter to a battery, and let it turn over without the plugs in it for about 5 minutes to make sure oil was circulated before the initial start up.

It's a 29MB vid, so you might need to grab a cup of coffee...

I'm thinking it's a cam bearing, but desperately hoping it's something else, because I just really don't want to drop this engine again...

[Superdave]

media player, Quicktime and divX won't play the vid...

[fieroboom]

media player, Quicktime and divX won't play the vid...

Weird.... It's just a plain ole mpg... Try it with lowercase file extension:

http://grandesigns.net/M2U00281.mpg

-Paul

[pmaniac69]

nope, plays about a second, and than nothing

[Superdave]

Worked for me that time..

are you sure nothing is rubbing on the flexplate?

[fieroboom]

Worked for me that time..

are you sure nothing is rubbing on the flexplate?

Well, I can't 100% say no there's nothing on it, but I am sure that I didn't drop anything down in the bell housing, and when I bolted up the torque converter, I didn't notice anything weird...

Also, I picked up a SunPro manual oil pressure gauge, popped it in the pressure switch hole, and I'm reading 40psi @ idle, and a couple of short revs got it to read 50 psi. I didn't want to rev it too much, just enough to get a reading.

Any more ideas before I drop the engine for the second time? Oh, and thanks so much for the ideas so far.

[fieroboom]

Worked for me that time..

are you sure nothing is rubbing on the flexplate?

Superdave, I took this bit of info, and did some more troubleshooting... I jacked up the car, started it, slid underneath and listened, and the noise definitely seems to be coming from the bellhousing & flexplate area. This made me feel much better about running it, so I drove it to AutoZone and had the CEL codes read. The only codes were a cooling fan, which was a blown fuse, and the knock sensor, which I had unplugged to install the oil pressure sensor. I fixed the fan, and plugged in the knock sensor, and now all codes are clear.

Now, I still have the noise, and the car has hardly any power at all. The engine revs great in park or neutral, but sounds like it's governing itself/bogging on hills & take offs. I believe I correctly filled the tq converter when I reinstalled the engine, but I'm kind of at a loss of clues and troubleshooting steps now.

Any more ideas? I'd love to hear them, or else I'm gonna bite the bullet & drop the drivetrain again.
Thanks again for all your help guys.
-paul

[fieroboom]

Just an update... After doing a lot of reading, I discovered that this model was notorious for clogging catalytic converters. I got the ok from my customer to cut the cat off on the assumption that it's clogged, and sure enough, it's EXTREMELY clogged. We don't have emissions here, so I'm welding in a pipe right now, and then a test drive will probly show a lot more power.

Once that issue is taken care of, I'll tackle the noise. Has anyone ever heard anything like that if the converter isn't completely filled with fluid? I'm pretty sure I filled it properly, but I'm second guessing just in case maybe there was an air pocket in it or something.... Any ideas?

[fieroboom]

Test drive definitely showed much more power... So now I'm just down to the noise again...

[pmaniac69]

I didn't know you could improperly fill a torque converter, I thought you just pust some in them so they didn't start dry, and that just keep filling the transmission until is shows its full, and the tranny pumpes the fluid to the converter?

[60dgrzbelow0]

FWIW... You might want to download this application that will allow you to convert your large MPG-MPEG file to a properly shrunken FLV (Flash Video) Format...and if you have not gotten one yet, set yourself up with a nice little account on www.photobucket.com as a place where you can memorialize this struggle with readily available images and videos, too for all of us to look over:

http://rivavx.com/?encoder

Also...If I may suggest another program...Get VLC (VideoLan) if its not on your box yet... It will play ANY flavor of Multi-Media and its...Free and Open Source:

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Forgive the implication...but your locale seems quite rural and the presence of so many leaves in your engine /windshield vents makes me wonder whether something might have accidentally dropped into the engine when you had it undone and were working on the top-end repair if this had to be done outside, for one reason or another. It can and has happened to many of us very easily ...from time to time.

[Firehawk94]

I didn't know you could improperly fill a torque converter, I thought you just pust some in them so they didn't start dry, and that just keep filling the transmission until is shows its full, and the tranny pumpes the fluid to the converter?

Pmaniac is right. Plus, its impossible to completely fill a torque converter anyway because when its time to install some of the fluid will leak out. I usually add a half a qt. to a qt. (depending on the size of the converter) slip it on and throw down some oil dry The pump will do the rest of the filling once you add fluid and start you car.

As far as the noise, make sure that your torque converter to flywheel bolts are tight. LOL I remember when I changed the tranny in my 94 Formula (LT1) one day I was at the car wash (about 3 weeks after I changed the tranny) and I was sitting in the automatic wash line and I heard what sounded like a knock, I freaked out and told everyone to back up so I could get out of the line. I shut the car off, jacked it up, started it again and it was just as loud as a knock on my bottom end. I was very upset at this point. I crawled back under and I started turning the flywheel by hand (I still had the shield off) and saw that my torque converter was loose and all 3 bolts were only finger tight. I was SOOOO thankfull that it wasnt my bottom end. i tightned the bolts up and everything was good, with loctite this time!!

So yea with all that said just check the torque converter bolts and make sure they are tight.