# ticking noise



## metal_bender (Aug 15, 2003)

about two weeks ago, i informed all of you of a ticking noise I discovered in my 1989 pulsar nx se. as it urns out, the rod bearings were shot at 116Kmi. the rings were fine and the wear on the cylinders was minimal, the rest, needed attention. the oil passages for the cam were closed with deposites from a poor choice in oil from the past. I lucked out big time, the rod jornals are only .0002 undersize after polishing and eveything else fits the mgf specs. the rods can be clipped to cover the tolerance difference and the rest will be as good as new. I can't wait to hit 7,500 rpm off the rev limit again!!!


----------



## 95 SentraB13 (Jun 14, 2002)

Great news to hear!! I know what you mean about the oil ports being clogged; check out the pic's of my engine.

http://b13sentra.netfirms.com/aug03/#before&after

Just to note, the car was owned by my dad since new(1995) yet driven by my brothers and sister until I acquired it this year. The oil wasn't changed near enough causing overheating and thick varnish and sludge build up. My dad is finally starting to listen to me when I push him to get the oil changed more often in his van.

The crankshaft/rod bearings in my Mother's Sentra failed for the same reason you said, poor oil quality(10w-40 if changed by the local mech. The viscosity range is too high causing the polymer chains to sheer down faster), longer than suggested change intervals and not to mention a six month oil leak that wasn't fixed right away. Needless to say the bearings had to be replaced but the crank was scored too bad that they failed again in 2 weeks. We're not sure exactly why this happened but all the problems started the day after the timing chain guides were replaced by the same mechanic. He gladly swapped the engine for free as he felt bad I guess.

Moral of the story, CHANGE YOUR OIL more often people. And if you have an oil leak, fix it quick! If not it will cost you more in the long run as my parents always find out...


----------



## Centurion (Sep 5, 2002)

Those are the nastiest pics I have ever seen. How many Miles did it have when they were taken? I'm guessing the oil was never changed -- is that correct?


----------



## metal_bender (Aug 15, 2003)

those are some nasty pics but they look exactly like what i found when i tore the ca18de apart. i also had several wiped out oil seals which dispenced with oil quite liberally. you are absolutely correct in maintaining regular oil changes, there is no substitute.

have most of my parts to put the engine back together, i'm waiting on rod bearings, main bearings, water pump, oil pump, crank timing gear and a few minor items. i put the new rings down in the bores and checked the end gaps, they are on the high side of the tolerance so i'll run them as is after breaking the glaze on the walls. i would have preferred to go .030 over and replace the pistons, but as it stands, i should have little problem getting another 100k miles out of it as is.


----------



## 95 SentraB13 (Jun 14, 2002)

Centurion said:


> *Those are the nastiest pics I have ever seen. How many Miles did it have when they were taken? I'm guessing the oil was never changed -- is that correct? *


I was pretty shocked as well when I removed the valve cover. There's 116,xxx miles/197,xxx Km's on the engine which isn't very much. The before pictures were taken on Aug 7/02; the after pictures were taken on Sept 1/03.

The car was driven by my three bothers and sister non-stop but mainly for short trips. My dad claims the car was brought to the dealer at every oil change interval but I honestly do not believe him. I rarely remember the car going to the dealer every 3-4 months for an oil change, mainly because he never had time. After the warranty was up 10,000-20,000 Km's between changes seemed common but this was before I drove the car. The oil was changed YES, just not enough IMO. Also, you have to realize that it was driven by young people who just got their license and wanted to impress their friends or just drive the car hard and fast often. Unfortunately I'm the one stuck with the repairs.

I have the timing chain guides installed and the engine is working again but there is a loud rattling in the head, like you first mentioned metal_bender. I did a vacuum test on it last nite and I believe the valve springs need to be replaced. More than likely this was related to the engine being layed up for 18 months. Hopefully the rod bearings are not gone as well although I'm leaning toward that.
Just to note, my dad changed the oil in his van a week ago. He said he said he's going to start changing it more often, or so my brother told me, so he won't have to deal with oil related problems and premature engine wear compared to every other vehicle he's owned.


----------



## metal_bender (Aug 15, 2003)

*Loud Rattling*

95 SentraB13, I too thought the noise was first comming from the valve train, so I removed the valve covers and took a look around. My CA18DE utilizes hydraulic cam followers, with no rocker arms. With no particular evidence of cam lobe damage or cam follower damage, I concluded the rod bearings were the problem.
The car was owned by two previous owners, both women (not that that really matters), but I suspect the oil changes were made at a convienient station that used the least expensive oil available, which likely had a high ash content which resulted in a lot of buildup and deposites. This wiped out the bearings and nearly fried the valve train by constricting the oil holes for the cam. I was actually quite lucky to catch the noise early. The crank was able to be polished without a regrind and the rods were reworked to accept stock bearings with acceptable clearance, the main journals were fine. I also hade a valve job done and the head milled flat, the shop removed .006". The springs checked out fine, for the most part the, head and valves were not too bad. The block was cooked and honed, I didn't bore it oversize because the ring gaps were still acceptable with new stock rings from Nissan, piston clearance was also acceptable, not to mention there was no evidence of scoring on the cylinder walls. Yeah, I should have bored the cylinders and replaced the pistons, but this is not the engine to spend more than what is necessary to make it run well, I'm not adding nitrous or a turbo, another reason I left the cylinder bores alone.
When I tore the engine down, I did find bearing material in the oil pan and scored rod bearings, the mains looked ok, mostly due to the fact they get the oil first.
I placed the crank and bearing back in the block as I wait for the rod bearings.
I think you'll find the rod bearings are wiped out. If you catch it early, it helps keep the cost down for the rebuild.
Let me know what you find.


----------

