The Big End...?

[Carnie]

OK,so as in another post just down a bit my mates 1.8 was making a clattering noise after sitting for a while. This then went away after about 20mins of running and all was good. He then lleft the car again for a month or two without turning it over and the noise came back.Nothing would get rid of it,i put in some of that Wynns tappet treatment,nothing,we took the tappets out and checked them,they were all fine along with the springs etc. We decided to start it up again and it was still making this loud clattering,then it got quieter..........after a few mins it got louder and then the car died.Car seems to be struggling to to run(unsure if theres enough petrol tbh) but its making this clattering noise still?We took the sump off to check inside and found that there was quite a bit of play in all the big ends on the cam(but all were bolted up tight).Took one off to look at the shell and theres nothing obvious there.Are they suppose to have this amount of play in them or are the shells worn?If so is it possible that the oil is just shot and adding this treatment has thinned it out even more and its no longer protecting the big ends. Sound seems to be coming from the block or possibly closer to the gearbox side but its hard to tell.It goes up and down with the revs and is pretty loud and clattery.
Cheers
Jamie

[danny_p]

if theres play on the big ends that would suggest there knackerd,  pop the caps off and take teh shell out is teh only real way to tell,  i you see yellow bits there all used up and the cranck will probably have to come out for a polish

[Carnie]

Well we had the shells out,theyre a bit scratched but no tarnishing yet.The more i read about it seems like they have gone as theres enough play in them for you to rattle them on the crank a little haha guess its pretty obvious!Well if anyone can confirm how secure theyre suppose to be but i guess it seems like the shells are worn out.
Cheers

[Wayne]

Well we had the shells out,theyre a bit scratched but no tarnishing yet.The more i read about it seems like they have gone as theres enough play in them for you to rattle them on the crank a little haha guess its pretty obvious!Well if anyone can confirm how secure theyre suppose to be but i guess it seems like the shells are worn out.
Cheers

Should be no play at all.

[Carnie]

Hmm was afraid of that,oh well,cheap fix i guess.Cheers for the help lads.Ill let you know if this fixes the clattering noise!

[Carnie]

Ok,update on the situation.Just realised when my mate was moving the big ends he was doing it side to side,theres no play up n down or back n forth which would suggest there is no wear?I mean the movement side to side is minimal,only till it hits the crank.Am i right here?If so what else could account for the clunking?Going to check the clutch release bearing tomorrow as ive heard this can make quite a racket when it goes.May also suggest why the car was struggling if this was restricting the engine.....?Apart from that im lost as weve basically checked everything else.
Anyone?

[danny_p]

you can plastigadue them to check the actual cearances,  but tehy are soposed to move side to side a littel.

if you have had tappet isues its possible that you have a developing oil pressure issue ether in teh whole engine or just the cyl head

[Carnie]

I dont think this issue has anything to do with the tappets now,the noise is far too loud for it too be a tappet,its a proper clunking noise now.With the car out of action its abit harder to diagnose this though.Oil pressure seems good as even cranking it over by hand the tappets etc are covered in oil.Gonna clean the oil pick up tomorrow but again that looked fine the other day,will test the oil pump aswell to make sure this is in good working order,apart from that i dunno what else to check.

[Wayne]

The crank should not move at all, did you refit the thrust washers.

[danny_p]

cranck is soposed to have very littel end float  0.01 iirc , the big ends will move side to side a littel