# Tired of the ole tired truck



## 87softbody (Oct 8, 2011)

To start, don't let the title lead you to thinking i'm trying to trash my 1987 hardbody with the z24i motor complete with 21XXXX miles. I'm just tired and frustrated of the last 8 months and 10000 miles i've put on the old z being full of noises, knocks, clacks, etc. and i can't believe it took me this long to find this forum after workin at advance auto for a year. but on to the truck, it all started about February when mobil 1 high mileage became an oil change special at my store. Since i 1997 my old man had been runnin 10w-40 in the truck cold, hot, rain, shine, etc. and so i naturally grabbed 10w-40 off the shelf. Changed the oil, she ran just like the lil sewing machine she always had been. Besides the usual spark knock I got under heavy throttle she was fine. drove it 1000 miles and at start up it began to get a nice clacking noise for the first 5 seconds and if it weren't for this I probably wouldn't have noticed but the oil light was on until that noise stopped (it had always had a 5 sec oil light and i never realized when she was silent.) Since that i've ran seafoam, lucas oil treatment, KN oil filter, purolator filter, changed the plugs, adjusted the valves (to spec. which seemed to make 'um noisier), switched back to conventional oil, and finally I just tried a different weight (5W-50) all to no avail. Tomorrow i'm checkin the compression and adding an oil pressure gauge just to make sure things are ok. 

Thins noise has been killin me!!! some ppl say sounds like an oil pump, some say there's nothing wrong don't worry about it, some say valve wear. all i know is it didn't do it for the first year after pops gave it to me and since then it spark knocks a lil worse and is a lil more noisy. soooo tired of the bulletproof truck feeling like it's on its way out, HELP!!!


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

If the idiot light (oil light) comes on, then that indicates very low oil pressure. This could be caused by a worn out oil pump, plugged up oil pickup screen or worn rod/main bearings.


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## SPEEDO (Jun 9, 2003)

might try a 30w, I have used the high mileage 10/30 for about 10 yrs now....


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## 87softbody (Oct 8, 2011)

i don't think the bearings are shot cause i still hit the red line every now and there (or close if the tach worked hah) and once the noise is gone after the first couple seconds the oil lights gone...and stays gone unless she sits for over a few hours. at first i was thinking filter drain-back valve but i've tried 4 diff. filters with the same result. I'm slappin on a pressure gauge tomorrow, wat pressure should I be looking for, 50ish cold 20ish warm?? and......thanks for the impute so far!


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

Try to obtain copies of these technical service bulletins as they may be helpful:

TS88-053 Metallic rattle noise from oil pump relief valve during warm up.

TS88-082 Z24i Knocking noise.


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## 87softbody (Oct 8, 2011)

hahah finding those bulletins was awesome how ever you did it, but they cost money to view. the more I think about it, the more i think about what i did to produce the noise. in a very short (1500 miles till the noise began) i did the true seafoam treatment (1/3 in the gas, crankcase, throttlebody) and then switched it to mobil one. i'm wondering if I could dump the current oil, fill it with some b12 chemtool and maybe some techron, let it sit, drain it to test if it has a clogged pickup tube, wash it down with a couple cheap quarts of oil then fill it with some rotella 15w-40 to shut it up


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