Rattly VR6

[woodyard12 10]

Hi there Newby alert!!

 

any thoughts on what this noise may be...[video=youtube_share;ILT9mDHoY5U]

[Jim 1]

Welcome to the forum.

 

Jesus - not sure but that sounds horrible! Not sure if that's either a completely dead tappet / lifter or the dreaded timing chains. Either way I'd be getting it checked out as a matter of urgency. Doesn't sound like it's running properly either, with a bit of a misfire.

[Dox 22]

Its almost impossible to diagnose noises via a video, its hard enough stood in front of them.

 

Oil pressure and compression tests would be a good starting point

[woodyard12 10]

the inconsistency of the rattle makes me want to say chain flapping about but it sounds a bit 'heavy' for that...I thought hydraulic tappets too but they are more often than not a continuous rattle in my experience...any further thoughts anyone.

[dr_mat 0]

Smartphone video suffers from auto gain control, so it pumps up the volume to deafening even if the noise itself is pretty quiet. Tough to diagnose from that.

 

It's worth saying that a lot of VR6s are quite clattery, and there's nothing necessarily badly wrong with them, they've pretty much always been like that to some extent. The timing chains would be a classic one to check and you'd know that was an issue if the sound is worst when it's around 1200rpm at fast idle.

[Harrier 1]

Sounds like bottom end bearings to me.

[dr_mat 0]

Wow now I heard it properly that's pretty bad.. Not your usual worn out bits.

[woodyard12 10]

Right then people...despite much advice against this car by the nay-sayers I bought it!! £1100 for a 140k mile 2 owner, no rust, un-molested apart from uprated front disks, honest VR6...at tick over its not as smooth as I'd imagined but its certainly not running that rough.

 

It ticks over fine, you can 'blip' the throttle and theres no heavy bottom end knocking, but if you rev the engine smoothly the rattle is NASTY and fairly solid...its almost certainly not hydraulic tappets as its way to 'heavy' for that...Do we have anyone who's an expert in VR6's somewhere close to Northampton?? I'd happily pay someone to come and cast their ears over it, several local mechanics have sucked their teeth and say that its several different things based on their years of expertise but none of them have ever worked on 12v VR6 engine.

 

Basically I want some advice from someone who 'knows' these before I start unbolting the engine/box and strip it...I don't want to waste time and money on a full rebuild but more importantly I don't want to start a project that I won't finish!

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

LB

[Jim 1]

I think we all assumed it was yours and that it had suddenly become a bit poorly. It's certainly a bit of a gamble but I'm always pretty happy to hear someone is taking on a project and saving another one from potentially being scrapped!

 

You're not very far from Stealth Racing in Southam. There's not many folks who know VR6 engines as well as them. I don't think they'd be able to get out to you, but assuming the car is driveable you could book it in for a check over with them? Or get it trailered there.

 

In the meantime may be worth picking up a cheap stethoscope from somewhere like eBay or Amazon and having a listen around with the engine revved up to see if you can localise where the noise is coming from? If you had to say, would you say it originates more from one side or the other?

[woodyard12 10]

I've just been out and and fired it up again and I think it could be an engine out job as its definitely knocking from down low!! getting no Oil pressure light so potentially a top end knock rather than bottom end.

 

I am fairly handy with the spanners, is it a rebuild that I could/should undertake or do I bite the bullet and ship it off to a engine builder??

[Jim 1]

Depends how brave you feel. Timing chain replacement on these, for example, is certainly do-able at home but you need to be pretty competent to tackle it. There's a how-to guide on that process here to give you some idea:

 

http://wiki.the-corrado.net/vr6_clutch_and_timing_chains_replacement_part_1.html

 

http://wiki.the-corrado.net/vr6_clutch_and_timing_chains_replacement_part_2.html

 

Harrier said it could be worn out bottom end bearings - these are definitely relatively easy to do at home, but the question would be what caused them to wear.

 

Honestly before throwing money into it I would take it over to an expert for their opinion and formulate a strategy based on what they say. You can't really fully inspect the timing chains without getting to the point of stripping everything down anyway (as the bottom tensioner is buried out of sight).

[Dox 22]

Take the sump off and inspect the oil pump and its pick up, cheapest and quickest check for poor oil pressure, someone here had the pump securing bolts loose, another a cracked pick up pipe or it could be blocked?

[VR6Pete 0]

Sounds like a piston hitting a valve to me! Possibly spun a crank bearing

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fla 9]

Big end shells perhaps? Quite easy if a bit time consuming to do. Shells are around £60.

[Dox 22]

If its making a racket like that and the big ends are the problem it's highly likely the crank is scored too, and that's an engine out job to have the crank reground, inspect all bearing surfaces before ordering bearing shells