So, did I spin a bearing on my DD?

[super.secret.supra.club]

For my info purposes:

Car: Toyota Corolla, '04 AT. Stock.
Miles: ~80K
Engine: 1ZZ-FE

Ok so one day I started up my car and noticed "it didn't quite sound right." I couldn't quite put a finger on it, but sat in the parking lot listening for a minute or two until I made a note to myself to ask my roommate about it when I got home later. Later in the day I popped the hood to listen and noticed the car was making a very very feint ticking, if not knocking/clattering noise from inside the engine. It carries itself up from the point of idle @500~ish rpms, and all the way up until the revs are too fast to hear it.

I've never picked up a check engine light on this car.

The noise wasn't very loud at first, and even went away sometimes, but lately it got to an moderate audible point and I finally got some time with the other Ed(long story) to help me take the covers off the inspect my valves since I thought the noise was them seating and needing some adjustment. However, the valves checked out ok and there wasn't anything out of the ordinary going on there. We troubleshooted some more and traced to sound to be coming from the bottom of the engine. I'm suspecting that in my travels, one of my bearings took a bit of a dump.

I've always been meticulous about my fluid levels and whatnot since I drive the car around 70+ each day for my job. I was wondering if I'm aiming the right direction and the culprit was going to be a bearing? My next goal was going to be the redneck rodknock fix to get underneath the car to inspect was was going on at the bottom end.

-Ed.T

 

[Syris]

could be some exhaust sheilding shaking around down there

 

[suprahooked]

Take a piece of pipe and place it on the lower block and listen in it , you will hear the noise as you check it at differant locations.

 

[trydrew]

My next goal was going to be the redneck rodknock fix to get underneath the car to inspect was was going on at the bottom end.

-Ed.T

Good Luck with that... IIRC, the main caps in the 1zz are all cast into a single girdle. It was intended to strengthen the bottom end. Do a little bit of research on it as i'm not 100% sure...

I had to replace the oilpan on my sisters '01 Prizm. It was easily accessable..

Check for water in the oil.. Contamination could do it.
My dads corolla (00) got water in the oil somehow last winter (milkshake under the cap), and would "knock" when cold. It was the wierdest thing, I told him over and over it was gonna blow, but it didn't. All through the summer, it was fine :dunno: and now in the winter again (colder out) it has a slight knock when cold.
In my experiences, 1ZZs seem to burn oil too, but maybe that is just all of the ones around me.

 

[super.secret.supra.club]

Good Luck with that... IIRC, the main caps in the 1zz are all cast into a single girdle. It was intended to strengthen the bottom end. Do a little bit of research on it as i'm not 100% sure...

I had to replace the oilpan on my sisters '01 Prizm. It was easily accessable..

Check for water in the oil.. Contamination could do it.
My dads corolla (00) got water in the oil somehow last winter (milkshake under the cap), and would "knock" when cold. It was the wierdest thing, I told him over and over it was gonna blow, but it didn't. All through the summer, it was fine :dunno: and now in the winter again (colder out) it has a slight knock when cold.
In my experiences, 1ZZs seem to burn oil too, but maybe that is just all of the ones around me.

Yeah, you're acurately describing the symptoms I'm experiencing. I'm thinking I might give it 2 or 3 good flushes of oil and see if the knocking improves. My 1ZZ is also burning oil like you described, so I'll do that before I jump into the redneck rodknock fix. I just got my hands on the TSRM so I'll spend some time reading up on it to see where it gets me.

-Ed.T

 

[annoyingrob]

I just got my hands on the TCRM so I'll spend some time reading up on it to see where it gets me.
-Ed.T

TSRM!

TSRM = Toyota Service and Repair Manual, not Toyota Supra Repair Manual.


It's very unlikely that it's a spun bearing. Usually a spun bearing is a lot noisier, and a lot more of a mess. You can check the oil for any visible metal shavings, but I doubt you'll find any.

You can hook up an oil pressure gauge, and see what your oil pressure is at idle. If it's low, it could be a deformed bearing.

 

[trydrew]

Yeah, spinning a bearing is a little more violent then having one wear prematurely.

 

[super.secret.supra.club]

Fixed, typo.

 

[SupraMario]

TSRM!

TSRM = Toyota Service and Repair Manual, not Toyota Supra Repair Manual.


It's very unlikely that it's a spun bearing. Usually a spun bearing is a lot noisier, and a lot more of a mess. You can check the oil for any visible metal shavings, but I doubt you'll find any.

You can hook up an oil pressure gauge, and see what your oil pressure is at idle. If it's low, it could be a deformed bearing.

O snap I didnt even think about the toyota supra repair manual, thats cool, its now the toyota supra repair manual in my head.....damn its not sticking.:biglaugh:

 

[faithless88]

Try this site they cover Corollas there and any other makes of Toyotas including the Scions. Since I own and DD a 6th gen I'm in that area.

 

[super.secret.supra.club]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I appreciate it.
I haven't been able to get my hands on an oil pressure gauge to do a quick check through to see how things are looking when I'm idling yet, but I've done this so far:

Poked around the bottom of the car and nothing was loose or out of the ordinary there.

I've gone and given the engine 2 'flushes' of oil and I didn't find any metal shavings when I was eyeballing as I going through it. Tossed in a new filter, some true syn, some 91 + an octane booster at random, and drove it around for a bit for a while, the knock is noticeably quieter now. In fact, I can barely hear it anymore unless I pop the hood and stick my head next to the engine, it still burns a bit of oil though. I have traced the sound to be coming from the #1 or #2 cylinder of the engine, I want to pin it on #1 but I won't know for sure until I get down there.

So my next step is to check with the oil pressure gauge and if it's oil at idle then it looks like I'm going to be taking a dive for a few hours to see how worn the bearings are.