Knocking & Diagnosing & Bonehead

[MattMud]

97 FZJ80 with 350k on block, redone head, turbo installed. Thousands of miles on this setup. Rebuilt my power steering yesterday and did new radiator. Had oil filter off to access PS nut. Late at night tired and hurrying have taken their toll. Forgot PS reservoir cap and oil filter replace before starting car. Saw the power steering fluid erupt and didn’t think any oil had come out but ALL of it did. Too tired to even think that all the oil I cleaned up couldn’t have been in the PS system. I drove it this morning hoping my temps would be nice and low at 180-185. Never thought to check oil as I only “saw” PS fluid come out. Really boneheaded and embarrassing. Engine temp never got above 155 this morning and then shut off while driving. Could restart and drive with the 7qts of oil now in it.

Knocking when running but now awful, just obviously noticeable. Stethoscope indicates knocking at about #6 and #2. Confirms on head and valve cover. Putting stethoscope on block only has a very faint knock.

Note: I have a high tolerance for risk. I am not in the camp of rebuild everything before doing turbo. I don’t do PM on every bolt and bobble. Just saying that’s my comfort level on risk. Trying to avoid the comments of “tear it all apart and re-mill every bolt from scratch” approach.

Question 1: what have I likely bent/damaged?

Question 2: anything I can do short of taking head off? Wondering if some varnish is keeping something from moving and kerosene or some such may break it loose.

Question 3: all ideas welcome.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MattMud]

Been talking with Joey about the above situation. He is a huge help and resource. I know the ultimate answer of the right thing is to pull the head and make it right again. However, the knocking is about 1/10th of what it was on Sunday. Wife has confirmed that too so it's not just my wishful thinking. Wondering if after full cooldown some oil was able to get in between something where it wasn't even after I oiled it back up on Sunday. Any thoughts on why the knocking would be soooo much less now?

 

[ZetheGSD]

If I were to take a stab at a keyboard diagnosis, I would say that driving with no oil starved the connecting rod bearings as well as the main bearings. Chances are that one bearing was dry and starting to spin as you shut it down. Now that everything has oil again, it has potentially partially spun a bearing which would explain why the original knock has gotten quieter once the bearing has found its new home and oil has created a new wear pattern in the bearing. THIS IS ONLY A GUESS

As far as I am aware, you could pull the upper oil pan and check a few bearings from the bottom of the cruiser, and if your really lucky find the one that is causing the noise and toss a new bearing on it and keep going since you have stated you don't care for fixing everything all over again. If it were me and I was hell bent on not taking it back apart, why don't you just keep driving on it till it craps more part numbers???

The only way to fix this is rebuilding the block at minimum due to oil starvation.

 

[MattMud]

Thanks. I used the stethoscope Sunday and the loud noise was from the head, not the block. Does that change your keyboard analysis.

 

[ZetheGSD]

Thanks. I used the stethoscope Sunday and the loud noise was from the head, not the block. Does that change your keyboard analysis.

Not really. If the "knock" is coming from the head and not the lower rotating assembly you have cams that have been grinding into the head. No fixing that as there are no bearings for the camshaft. The cam rides in an oil bath and abnormal wear means the head is useless. Usually a knock indicates a problem with the crankshaft or connecting rod components. A tick (Which is a much higher frequency noise) would be upper end and would be valvetrain related.

I guess you could have a piston slap knock which can be heard through the head, but that is a much more severe problem as the engine has either jumped time, or the lower bearings are so gone that its letting the piston travel further in it's stroke than designed. Piston knock can be normal for Toyota engines but goes away in a few seconds once the piston swells in the bore and no longer rattles around. I assume that your noise doesn't go away after it's warmed up?

 

[MattMud]

I see you are in KC. You must know Rob Ridgeway? May I call you and get more insight as you know way more than I do. My number is 831-261-1153