so i started my car this morning to hear a fairly loud knock coming from the what seems to be the front of the motor and a decent sized cloud of a bluish smoke out the exhaust. it is a constant knock and i cant tell exactly where it is coming from, but sounds like it might be originating somewhere near the pulley that the serpentine belt runs on in the center of the engine (power steering i believe, not sure). I also noticed that im about 1 1/2-2 quarts low on oil. i havent climbed under the car yet to see where i'm losing it...but i will at some point today, but the noise i am hearing doesnt sound like its just low on oil. again, i could be wrong.

anyone have any ideas? its a 98 2.8QM, 138,000 miles, replaced timing belt and valve cover gaskets at about 132,000. the only problem i have had recently is a bad flex pipe that i cut out last week and had a new one welded in. i know i have a small oil leak near the oil filter, but not big enough to lose that much so quickly. the only code its throwing is for the SAP, but its been doing that for quite a while. any help would be appreciated...thanks

 

looked at the car this afternoon. topped off the oil and started the car again. still making the awful noise. took off timing covers and everything is intact and doesn't seem to have slipped or anything. can't seem to figure this out. does anyone have any tips for diagnosing this? i'm gonna pull off the valve covers tomorrow to see if i can find anything...

found the oil leak...oil pan gasket is leaking pretty bad. any input would be a help on this. thanks

 

Is it misfiring, or is it making an actual knocking sound? Are you getting any codes?

 

the only code i am getting is from my SAP for improper/insufficient flow or something like that. its definitely sounds like a knock to me. sounds like its coming from the head on the drivers side. its all gonna get torn apart in the morning to attempt to diagnose. im just not too sure what im looking for.

 

being low on oil caused lack of lubrication to that head and now you need new lifters?

 

well i tore it all apart and i think i averted disaster. when i took everything apart i noticed that the noise was coming from the timing belt. it turns out that the belt had some slack in it because the tensioner dampener (i think thats what its called....little thing that looks like a shock) seems to have failed. when i took it off it was very easy to push the end in. it was putting some pressure on the tensioner...but the belt was loose enough for it to slap against the bottom of the timing cover on the passengers side. other than the knock....the car wasn't running poorly. im gonna put it all back together in the morning and hope for the best. thanks for the suggestions

 

Keep us posted. I have a wicked tick as well and i'm curious as to what you discover. By some strange chance, does (did) it sound like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imqK1...e=channel_page