what's this noise?

kinda hard to tell, is it a rattling sound?

my car made a wicked rattle sound only just barely above idle, while underneath it one day I found that a couple of screws had fallen out of the heat shield around the header (drivers side)

replaced them and no more sound.
 
Yikes!!!

does sound like something rattling along, if it's not that it's timing chain slap.

try taking a large screwdriver, butt the handle end to your ear and carefully place the working end of the screw driver on top of the front side of the valve covers. (while it's idling of course)

Do you hear the chain slapping against the inside of the block now more intensely ?

It may also be something running of the belt that could be making that noise. Possible pulley bearing.


EDIT: sorry but every time I hear such noises I always fear the secondary timing chains and tensioners, however there are other possibilities.
 
Forgot to mention that codes P0132 and P0402 have shown up recently. Considering my knowledge of engines and cars in general I will probably just get it checked out by a mechanic.
 
Mechanic called me earlier about the issue. He isn't 100% sure but thinks it is the timing chain. Quoted me 1300 to replace it. What should I do? What will happen if I keep driving it without fixing it if it is the timing chain? It doesn't seem to be effecting the way the car drives at all.
 
RedMist said:
Mechanic called me earlier about the issue. He isn't 100% sure but thinks it is the timing chain. Quoted me 1300 to replace it. What should I do? What will happen if I keep driving it without fixing it if it is the timing chain? It doesn't seem to be effecting the way the car drives at all.
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What year is your LS (2000 or 2001)?

Your engine will run perfectly fine right up to the very instant that the chain slips or snaps. If it just slips by one tooth, you may get lucky and have no engine damage, if you turn it off right then and have it towed (it will run badly at this point). On the other hand, if it snaps or jumps more than one tooth, some of your valves will collide with some of you pistons and it will probably be cheaper to replace the engine than to repair it.
If it were me, I'd repair it right now, or dump the car right now. To delay is foolish and could be very expensive.
 
Should sell me that LS, dump it this way, I'll take good care of it for you!
 
Make an offer BigRig. If I did sell it I'd most likely just be looking for another LS lol. But I don't have the money to get that fixed right now.
 
you dont have money to get this LS fixed, but you think you could sell this one with a bad motor for enough money to buy one without any expensive problems?
 
1LoudLS said:
you dont have money to get this LS fixed, but you think you could sell this one with a bad motor for enough money to buy one without any expensive problems?
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If I sold the LS and my grand am....yeah. And there's always the option of financing.

It's also a matter of not wanting to put anymore money into this car...my LS has been through some **** and I don't think anyone here would even want it if they knew. Even though it's all been fixed so far the car has a terrible history. I'll give you guys the full story.

I'd like to start off with saying that this LS was my first car purchase. I did own an LS previously but it was given to me by a family member. Anyways when I saw the ad for it on craigslist for $2,500 I knew something had to be wrong with it. But I called about it anyways and he said it was so cheap because all the stereo equipment was missing and the driver seat was torn to ****. He told me to come test drive it and I'd see that nothing was wrong with it mechanically so I did. Everything checked out, it ran perfectly. I even had a mechanic with me and he told me if I didn't buy the car then he was going to...so after telling the dealer about some issues he failed to mention (missing spare tire and small ding in rear passenger door) I drove the car off the lot for $2,400. I thought I had got one hell of a deal. All was well for about 3 weeks then my first time driving it somewhat of a distance (50 miles) it started running like ****. Barely had any power and was shaking pretty bad. I looked down and noticed the temp was rapidly going up. I pulled over on the side of the highway to let it cool down...then drove about 2 miles to the nearest parking lot very very slowly. Had it towed to the local mechanic for some pretty terrible news...he told me the head was cracked. Being angry and trying to figure out what to do I decided to check the vehicle history report (something I should have done before buying the car). Turns out it was in a front end collision back in 2006 I think and has had several different owners since and been through the auctions at least 15 times. At that point I realized I had been pretty screwed. My options were to either try to sell the car...I figured I'd maybe get $1,500 for it. Or get it fixed. The mechanic recommended I put a salvage engine in it if I wanted it fixed. So I had him do it. Cost me more than the car did ($2,600). I now had 5k in this LS which isn't really all that bad. Since then I've put new tires on it ($400), put a new stereo in ($900), fixed the A/C and passenger window regulator ($300) and other things like tinting the windows, plasti dipping various things and other stuff that weren't really necessary but either way I've for sure got over $7,000 in this car by now. I absolutely love LS's and am tempted to get this next problem fixed as well...but I'm not really sure at this point. I can't keep dumping money into it..
 
So, if you fix the timing chain and replace the tensioners on both sides with the newer ones, you'll know that you'll never have this problem again. On the other hand, if you buy another 2000-2001 (and maybe some 2002), then you'll never know when you will have this exact problem again.

Frankly, you'll never find one for what anyone would consider to be a good price that is fully up to date on maintenance such that you won't have any problems for a few years. Those of us who keep them in good shape, would never sell for a reasonable price.
 
Good points joegr. I've decided to keep it and get it fixed. It may just have to sit for a little while. Is this mechanics estimate of $1,300 good though? How much are these parts? He said it would be about 16 hours labor...


The noise has actually been there since the salvage engine was put in it was just a lot less noticeable back then...so what I should do is take it back to that mechanic that put the salvage engine in.
 
RedMist said:
The noise has actually been there since the salvage engine was put in it was just a lot less noticeable back then...so what I should do is take it back to that mechanic that put the salvage engine in.
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of course you should... if that noise has been there from the start, sounds like they sold you a grenade with the pin already pulled...

but then again, you should have said something as soon as you got it back and it was making a strange noise that the other one didn't make.




also fully agree with joe, anytime a $40k car is sold for a fraction of what it cost new, that is you first clue that said car needs a LOT of work. if the car was really in top shape, it would cost a whole lot more!, especially since either a new seat cover or stereo can be done for a couple hundred dollars.



the best part of keeping a car that you just dumped a bunch of money into, is that you know exactly what is has had done, and (as long as those were done right) shouldnt have to be done again.
 
Before replacing all chains and tensioners, pull the valve covers so you can check them. It might just need uppers, which are much easier to replace than the lowers.
 
Yes, and why not do it yourself? Many have done just the secondary + chains, it's not that big of a deal, we can help!
If you have another car to get around and a garage, it's time to get some parts ordered and tear into it.
If the timing hasn't jumped yet, which it doesn't sound like in the vid, there are a couple easy tricks to lifting the exhaust cam to make room to get the tensioner out. We have all the torque and sequence specs available.

"You can do it" (said Home Depot)
 
Hey RedMist, did you get the problem solved. Was it the timing chain tensioners like your mechanic thought? Im asking because the video you posted is EXACTLY the sound my 2002 LS V8 makes at light acceleration. its the only video ive seen with that exact noise. Everything else ive seen sounds different. thanks! Hope you got yours fixed
 
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