My NB suddenly has a serious sounding knock from the engine but there's no loss of power. It's a 1999 with about 58,000 miles and a T28 turbocharger. I took the valve cover off this afternoon--everything looked spotless, the lifters all seem to work fine, the plugs are a bit sooty (normal with this turbo setup) and each cylinder is showing normal compression.
Here's a quick video of what it sounds like:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/-22csJoD8MU
direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-22csJoD8MU
So what am I looking at here? Is my block toast?
That sounds like rod knock. Pull the pan, change rod bearings and mains as long as the journals on the crank still look good.
ncjay
Dork
1/9/16 7:48 p.m.
You could take off the oil filter and cut it open to see if there are any metal particles in the filter element. Anything can be fixed if you have the time and money.
Sounds like rod knock to me. You could pull the pan and check the condition of the rod bearings, but it's almost as quick to yank the engine. Take a cam cap off and make sure there's no scoring, as blocks are cheaper than 1999 heads.
Just for fun, check your crank endplay as well. The 1999 cars had a weakness, but I think most of the problem cars have died by this point.
