Ticking/ knocking After Head Gasket issue.

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hymnforthewretched

Test Drive
Location
Calgs, AB
I tried searching for an answer or someone with a similar problem to mine but came up short.

I have a 2000 X non-SC vg33E, and at about 185,000 kms the head gasket blew.

The truck sat for about 6 months before i had time to tackle the job. I tore it apart, had the heads machined and checked, used felpro gaskets and felpro head bolts. Everything went together quite well there didn't seem to be any issues.

Came time to do the first start up, beside the battery being dead ( charged it up and tried again ) it started up quite well and sounded great for about 15 seconds till it stalled out.. there was smoke around the crank pulley area which was strange so under closer examination we found that there was a bolt that we put in that must have been too long, that was grinding against the crank pulley, oops. fixed that right away and did another check over to make sure everything looked good to go. I should also note that there was a ton of white smoke that poured out the tail pipe, assumed this was from all the coolant and water that could be in the exhaust system still.

Started it up again, started fine, but this time theres a pretty loud and aggressive ticking/ knocking. fack... listen to see where its coming from and its in the distributor/ drivers side valve area. its for sure on the drivers side and top end. its pretty constant and consistent. it didnt get louder or quieter as the engine warmed up. if you touch the distributor its vibrating alot more than i think is normal ( cant remember what it was like before ) the common sound i hear from people with bad distributor bearings doesn't sound like the consistent knock/ticking im getting. The timing as far as i know should be good ( not sure about ignition timing as i didn't adjust that yet ) but moving the distributor in its adjusting range didnt change the sound. white smoke still coming out ( i feel this is normal until its burns off ) should also note that the number 6 cylinder ( drivers side farthest to firewall ) is the cylinder the head gasket failed.

After all of this i realized we didnt change the oil after head gasket blew.. looked at the oil and of course its milkshake city, thick and sludgy... so now im thinking that disgusting oil has circulated into the lifter and is causing some havoc. i cant say for sure though. we changed the oil, still does it. but maybe i need to do an engine treatment to free up the stick lifter, im not sure. thinking that this sound is no good we shut it down before anymore issues arise.

Anyone think they might know whats going on? I'm 2 hours away from the truck so i can't check things out efficiently, but the engine light did not come on, as far as codes.. not sure as I'm 2 hours away. its not an exhaust leak, this i know. besides seemingly running smooth the RPM did seem to hunt a tad, about a 100 or so RPM up or down after the engine warmed up. figured the ignition timing is a bit out and the computer is trying to self adjust.

Possible things i can contribute the issue to from research is:

-lifters sticking from gunky oil
-valve train issue: rocker broke etc.
-possiblt timing issue ( although seems fine. can't comfirm the 40/43 tooth count )
-possible distributor problem

Thanks for your time!! any help appreciated!
 
NismoFire

NismoFire

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Founding Member
Location
Smyrna, TN
The KA24s and the VG33s are notorious for the valves/lifters clicking without oil. Hell, mine starts clicking when I need an oil change. Try a good Seafoam treatment (cheapest option) first, then go from there. That was the first thing I thought of when I started reading through your post. You may also have to change the oil for a third time after the Seafoam.
 
H

hymnforthewretched

Test Drive
Location
Calgs, AB
Macland said:
A lot of people have had success with Seafoam, but I'm thinking like you that maybe you oughta do more digging before you run it like that.
Click to expand...

Exactly. its loud and aggressive enough to worry me. which is why I'm trying to gather some info, then attack the issue when i have more insight. if i gotta tear into the heads again i will if that means saving me hassle and money.
 
J Everett

J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
Before you do the treatment, drop the oil pan and pull the valve covers, and make sure there's no more water in the system. Squirt some oil on the cams before you bolt the valve covers back up, start with completely fresh oil before you do the Seafoam treatment. And then change the oil again. I know that runs the price up, but better than doing an engine swap/rebuild.


Also, since it's an interference engine, recheck the timing and make sure the valves aren't contacting the the pistons.
 
H

hymnforthewretched

Test Drive
Location
Calgs, AB
J Everett said:
Before you do the treatment, drop the oil pan and pull the valve covers, and make sure there's no more water in the system. Squirt some oil on the cams before you bolt the valve covers back up, start with completely fresh oil before you do the Seafoam treatment. And then change the oil again. I know that runs the price up, but better than doing an engine swap/rebuild.


Also, since it's an interference engine, recheck the timing and make sure the valves aren't contacting the the pistons.
Click to expand...

Ya i think thats a good starting point, gives me the chance to look at everything too and make sure nothing looks outta whack.

What if the shiatty oil is clogged up in the oil pump and lines etc? will the sea foam hopefully un-clog it?
 
AaronsX

AaronsX

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Bowling Green, KY
Mine tapped terribly bad when I had my heads re done and my valves changed. Heres a video of the days following all that work.
[video=youtube_share;8yGcN4n3Pwc]http://youtu.be/8yGcN4n3Pwc[/video]

It finally stopped doing it that bad but now every cold start up it taps really fast for a few seconds then stops.
 
H

hymnforthewretched

Test Drive
Location
Calgs, AB
AaronsX said:
Mine tapped terribly bad when I had my heads re done and my valves changed. Heres a video of the days following all that work.
[video=youtube_share;8yGcN4n3Pwc]http://youtu.be/8yGcN4n3Pwc[/video]

It finally stopped doing it that bad but now every cold start up it taps really fast for a few seconds then stops.
Click to expand...

Hmm interesting. The sound is similar in a way to mine.

How long did it take before the initial aggressive ticking went away?

I guess i should be looking at lifters etc. im gonna open up the covers and make sure it all looks ok and do a engine treatment and see what happens
 
Kris&HerX

Kris&HerX

Bumpers Installed
Founding Member
Location
Boise, ID
I also suggest doing the Seaform treatment. I just had mine rebuild but the oil change was done during. I was told by the repair man to change the oil again after 1500 miles and that some smoke would still show for a while but eventually would go away. I have a small knocking currently as well, but I have so many ideas as to what it could be (plus I haven't been able to seafoam it yet.)
 
AaronsX

AaronsX

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Bowling Green, KY
hymnforthewretched said:
Ah I see. No issues have rised from it?
Click to expand...

Nope I mean it taps for a second or two when I do a cold start up but I have heard 1st gen Xterras do it a lot. Like she said Seafoam might be good too. There are some how tos out there but put 1/3 in the brake booster vacuum line (slowly or the engine will die, let it suck a little up then give it air) put 1/3 in the oil, and put the last 1/3 in the gas. After you suck all the 1/3 in thru the vacuum line shut the engine off. Let it sit for about 30 minutes then crank it up and watch the white smoke pour out your tail pipe lol. If that didn't make sense theres tons of videos on youtube.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
H

hymnforthewretched

Test Drive
Location
Calgs, AB
AaronsX said:
Nope I mean it taps for a second or two when I do a cold start up but I have heard 1st gen Xterras do it a lot. Like she said Seafoam might be good too. There are some how tos out there but put 1/3 in the brake booster vacuum line (slowly or the engine will die, let it suck a little up then give it air) put 1/3 in the oil, and put the last 1/3 in the gas. After you suck all the 1/3 in thru the vacuum line shut the engine off. Let it sit for about 30 minutes then crank it up and watch the white smoke pour out your tail pipe lol. If that didn't make sense theres tons of videos on youtube.
Click to expand...

ya the seafoam or equivalent cant hurt to try. Im gonna confirm the timing is ok first ( do not want valves hitting pistons ) then inspect under the valve covers and go from there. it really doe sound like I'm having a lifter/valve problem since all that gunk that has possibly circulated plus the fact the heads were drained, cleaned, and machined means new fresh oil probably hasn't worked its way in. Hopping this is the issue anyways. ill post my findings.
 
H

hymnforthewretched

Test Drive
Location
Calgs, AB
So i started it up so my mechanic friend could take a listen.. his face went sour very quickly and told me to shut it off.. great. he didn't like the sound of it at all.

So we tear the intake off to access the drivers valve cover since he too thought it was coming from that side. get it off, nothing looks out of the ordinary, seems as if fresh oil has been circulating. since were there we took the rockers and lifters out and cleaned everything with brake clean and inspected them closely. nothing looks broken or out of place. so we install the lifters and rockers back in and then i turned the crank manually while they listened. sure enough we could hear the individual knocks. when you watched a valve open, as it came back up to close, at the last part of its stroke it would catch and then "pop" back up. so basically 3 or 4 of the valves were sticking and releasing causing this sound. at this point we thought possibly i bent some valves from the initial head gasket failure and it eventually hydro locking, but this didnt make sense either.

so we thought what the hell, put it back together and see what happens. go to start it after putting it back together and this time the knocking sounds even worse...loud as ****... after about 12 seconds the knocking magically comes to an abrupt stop... the engines goes what seems completely silent in comparison to loud knocking before and sounds healthy... we were all stunned and shocked and couldn't believe what just happened.

I have not a clue as why the sound went away. all i know is it seems to have worked it self out. maybe the cleaning did something, maybe there were oil galleys plugged and then released. no idea. wish i knew so i could assist other people in the matter.

now i have a few little glitches to work out, but it moves under own power and is drivable. thanks for all the help and suggestions.
 
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