Sr20det very loud rattle

[K_never_broke_again]

So on sunday I finally finished putting my sr in, and i decided to go for the first start. I put oil/coolant/gear oil in before obviously, and also pulled the fuel pump fuse to prime the engine a few times before starting it for real. first start went fine, so did the next couple. heres a vid of the second start.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kf...4CuxNGLu9HQwgS

as you can see its nothing too bad besides a high idle at about 2.5k, and a verrry small amount of smoke coming from the exhaust side of the engine(whatever that is, im going to worry about it later). After that start, I adjusted the throttle cable to help the idle, and started it up again. It was running super rough when i heard a loud noise coming from the valve cover area so I shut it off. Decided to start it again, this is what it sounded like

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ds...PIHdV8GDThHQ8j

Does anyone know what the sound is? I've done my research, at first I thought it was a loose timing chain rattling, then my friend said his boss thought it could be loose rocker arms, somebody else said I bent my valves. I pulled the valvecover off today, didnt see anything out of the ordinary. Timing was fine, chain was tight, nothing was cracked, and it seemed like everything was getting oil. At this point I have no idea what it could be, it makes no sense to me that it could run fine then suddenly sound totally fucked. The noise is loud enough that I thought i bent my valves, but the timing is still correct so how could that be possible? any help would be appreciated, thanks

[brndck]

if the engine has been sitting for a while, the lifters need to be bled. you can remove them and manually bleed them, or they will bleed themselves out over time.

[K_never_broke_again]

Originally Posted by brndck

if the engine has been sitting for a while, the lifters need to be bled. you can remove them and manually bleed them, or they will bleed themselves out over time.

thanks for the help, I didn't see anything about that online. when the problem is finally resolved ill update the thread to help anyone with the same issue.

[jedi03]

+1 on lifters...they will throw the shim fast on first startup...thought I had spun a bearing on mine, pulled valve cover and saw shim missing...carefully lifted cam with timing tensioner off and replaced it, put everything back on minus cover, fired it up with cover off (very messy lol) and was good to go!

[K_never_broke_again]

Update- Well, after looking at my options I listened to the lifter advice, and decided to bleed them. I would say half of them were completely aired out, so I just bled them all and filled them with fresh oil. Carefully reassembled the valvetrain, fsm torque specs etc. Also noticed my timing was oddly off by 1 tooth, so I corrected that as well. Last night after I finished everything I threw the valve cover back on, so today between classes I went home and decided to give it a crank. You guys were right, it fired up and ran smooth, the lifters were the problem. Notice the past tense there? After it started I shut it off so I could grab my phone and take a vid for my friends, also cuz my power steering pump was smoking. when to start it a second time for the vid, Hear a fucking awful noise, so I pull the valve cover off. Timing jumped 6 teeth. My valves are toast.

[brndck]

Originally Posted by K_never_broke_again

Timing jumped 6 teeth. My valves are toast.

WHAT THE SHIT. Is your tensioner missing???

[K_never_broke_again]

Originally Posted by brndck

WHAT THE SHIT. Is your tensioner missing???

No, its all the way in and I know its applying pressure cuz when I put it back in I had to sort of press on it to get the bolts to thread. I even had it soaking in oil while I did the lifter bleeding. Honestly I wish it was something like that though, I would much rather know exactly why it happened then not, even if its because of my own stupidity. Its a lot more frustrating when shit gets fucked up and you have no idea why.

[brndck]

did you compress the tensioner properly while you had it out?
https://www.sr20forum.com/general-sr...tensioner.html

[K_never_broke_again]

Originally Posted by brndck

did you compress the tensioner properly while you had it out?
https://www.sr20forum.com/general-sr...tensioner.html

According to the link you included I'm pretty sure I did. I compressed it, put the little hook on, then installed it. I also verified the hook thing was off once it was in the engine, and pulled my fuel pump fuse and gave it a prime just to be sure it was getting oil pressure. See what I don't understand is it started and ran fine the first time, it wasn't till the second start that it jumped. This makes me think something loosened up during the first start which caused it to go wrong on the second.

[S14rebuild]

Somethings not right here...i just did the same job, swapn cams and 0 issuses

Maybe ur tensioner isnt working properly

Did u remove the cam sprokets durning all this? Are they installed properly?

[jedi03]

does your tensioner have a claw looking thing to keep it from backing out? if its gone it wont hold enough pressure...otherwise did you replace your chain and guides when you had it apart?

[K_never_broke_again]

I feel pretty dumb right now, but it turns out my valves aren't bent. It was a series of coincidences that led me to believe they were fucked, so let me explain.

when I tried to start it, I said I heard that "awful noise" so I went to check it out before I tried again(seriously, it sounded like my valvetrain exploded. I actually have a video so see for yourself https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NT...xUvf697bwH25_9 ). I cranked see if it was super difficult, just as a simple way to see if my valves were bent. I could barely move it all. At that point I already thought they were done for, so I pulled the cover off to check the timing. For some reason, I thought that because the dark links weren't lining up with the sprocket marks that the timing was off(that was stupid but i wasn't thinking straight because I thought I just destroyed my engine), even though what really matters is the number of links between the marks.

So today I went out to fully check out my engine, and when I was in the garage I noticed a 27mm socket in my driveway. Thats when I realized the terrible noise I heard wasn't my engine, but my ratchet, which I had left on the crank when I went to start it the second time. At that point It occurred to me that I couldn't be sure the timing was off at all, so I went to crank it to TDC. Removed spark plugs but still wouldn't move very easily, which had me very worried, but I figured it my valves were already bent so whats the harm in bending them some more, so I cranked it to TDC, timing was correct. I was trying to figure out why it was so hard to crank, and then I thought about the smoke I saw coming from my power steering pump, so I thought maybe the power steering pump was seized or broken. Went to check, and sure enough, the bolt behind the PS pump pulley had backed out, and was preventing it from moving. Put the bolt back in, pump turned fine so I put the belt back on, put the valvecover back on, turned the key and it started right up!

In the end, what I thought were bent valves turned out to be a flying ratchet and a loose bolt. You live and learn, right? thanks again brndck and jedi

[brndck]

Originally Posted by K_never_broke_again

In the end, what I thought were bent valves turned out to be a flying ratchet and a loose bolt. You live and learn, right? thanks again brndck and jedi

woohoo!!! glad to hear it turned out ok!

I've actually seen where someone left a ratchet on the crank pulley and when they started up the car it got flung up and left a fat dent on the underside of the hood (chevy truck, not a 240)