Need shop near Little Rock, Ar to help with knock issue (1 Viewer)

[Jacobatron]

Hey everyone, Ive had my 97 LC for about 3 months now and it's giving me some weird symptoms and sadly is starting to knock with only 138,000 on the odometer. I'm looking for suggestions on where to start, and realistically I'll probably be looking for a shop in my area that can do a rebuild.

The symptoms:
High Oil Pressure- It runs just below the "H" cold and will move up and down accordingly
Knock sound- Seems to be in the low end. Starts cold and continues until warming up~10-15 minutes and goes away. There's no loss of power and I'm not noticing any smoke.
Fluctuating Oil Levels- I am meticulously checking the oil at this point, but get different readings. Sometimes it is at F and sometimes is barely above L. I'll check it at work (warm) and it will be at L, I drive a couple miles home to put oil in it and it will be full.
Oil Pressure gauge- the last 3 days the gauge has starting cutting out intermittently. I'll hit a bump and it will slowly fall from near H to below L. You hit another bump and it will slowly come back up to the near the H. Sometimes it works when I first start it up, sometimes not.
Low Oil Light- 2 times the oil light has come on. The first time, I checked the oil the previous night it was full. The next morning I left my driveway and the light came on. It was still cold and I had great oil pressure on the gauge. I immediately pulled over to check the oil and there was nothing on the stick. I ran back home, literally, grabbed oil and put nearly 2 quarts in it. Did not notice any leaks. continued on.
The second time, I checked the oil the night before after returning from a trip about an hour away. It was full. In the morning I left my house to head to work. The gauge wasn't working initially and after about 10 minutes of driving the low oil light came on. I was in traffic and couldn't pull over immediately so I exited and by the time I hit the ramp the gauge moved up to H and the low oil light went off. I got to work and the oil level read just below F on the stick.
No engine codes other than the occasional excessive purge flow from a cracked vacuum line I found behind the EGR and will be replacing shortly.

What would your next step be?
What shop would you recommend? Preferably within driving distance of Little Rock, Ar

Thanks

 

[sambrian2007]

Bobby at Cruiser Co. I’ve never used them so I can’t reference. Maybe others on here have and can. It’s a starting point at least. Dm me and I may have another contact you can try. I’m in Bryant and have been researching shops for when mine starts acting up.

 

[Jacobatron]

Bobby at Cruiser Co. I’ve never used them so I can’t reference. Maybe others on here have and can. It’s a starting point at least. Dm me and I may have another contact you can try. I’m in Bryant and have been researching shops for when mine starts acting up.

Thanks man ill send you a DM

 

[dbek]

I’m new to the LC community and have a ‘93 RHD. Have a couple of leaking seals (diff, transfer case, pinion) and have an appointment with Mud Connection in LR. I don’t know what their scope of service is, but they are familiar with LCs. At the least, they may be able to offer a worthwhile recommendation as they’ve been in business since 1981.

Please let us know if you land on a specific vendor and/or if you have a good experience, etc. - thanks!

 

[SHIfTHEAD]

Well the symptoms are strange to me. A "knock" until it gets warm is usually a misdiagnosed exhaust manifold crack. The oil pressure thing is probably just thick oil when it's cold. If you're running something like 20w-50 in the cold months, that's way to viscous, I normally run 10w-30 or 10w-40 all year round.

 

[Jacobatron]

Well the symptoms are strange to me. A "knock" until it gets warm is usually a misdiagnosed exhaust manifold crack. The oil pressure thing is probably just thick oil when it's cold. If you're running something like 20w-50 in the cold months, that's way to viscous, I normally run 10w-30 or 10w-40 all year round.

I would love it to be a cracked exhaust manifold!
I'm running 10w 30 in it. The temps here are pretty mild. I did throw a quart of Lucas in it a while back and that would cause the oil to thicken up.

Today the oil was well above full before cranking it. Cranked it and ran for about a minute, turned it off, checked and the oil was barely at L. Drove across town 10min, the low oil light came on after driving about a mile and went off after less than a minute. I stopped and checked it before adding oil at the parts store, and it was above full.

I've got a contact for a master mechanic not too far from me. I'm gonna take it to him this next week and let him look at it.

 

[sambrian2007]

I would love it to be a cracked exhaust manifold!
I'm running 10w 30 in it. The temps here are pretty mild. I did throw a quart of Lucas in it a while back and that would cause the oil to thicken up.

Today the oil was well above full before cranking it. Cranked it and ran for about a minute, turned it off, checked and the oil was barely at L. Drove across town 10min, the low oil light came on after driving about a mile and went off after less than a minute. I stopped and checked it before adding oil at the parts store, and it was above full.

I've got a contact for a master mechanic not too far from me. I'm gonna take it to him this next week and let him look at it.

Who are you going to use?

 

[Jacobatron]

I took it over to Chris Rogers yesterday. He's gonna pull the valve cover and check out the top end, but thinks it probably sludged. I contacted Bobby at Cruiser Co, but never got a response back.

Who are you going to use?