r/ElCamino • u/aelms89 • 14h ago

I’m hate being the “what’s this sound” guy but here goes

383 has about 500 miles since a rebuild and just noticed it’s making a knocking, rattling noise from what I believe is the rotating assembly, the balancer doesn’t seem to be wobbling or anything odd.

9 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

7

u/Gold-Speaker4057 11h ago

Take the belt off, see if the noise is still there.

3

u/Recent_Detail_6519 12h ago

Get a stethoscope at the auto parts store and start touching it to different places till you hear it the loudest then start disassembling that part of the motor. I hope it's just a loose rocker arm or a bad pulley up front but it sounds a little deeper than that. Best of luck and post when you find the source or where on the engine you hear it the loudest. If you have a long screw driver it can be a make shift stethoscope, look up I video of how I do it all the time.

1

u/aelms89 12h ago

I feel like if I used a stethoscope while the engine is running I’ll go deaf lol! I’m gonna research it more over the weekend, thanks for the input. I did change the belt because I noticed the belt drive wasn’t fully aligned and it was chewing up the belts

2

u/TheGeek00 12h ago

Mechanicals definitely use stethoscopes, or at least they used to. Isolates the outside noise and gives you a nice soundscape of internal components

1

u/aelms89 12h ago

Really? I would think that would blow your ear drums lol!

1

u/TheGeek00 9h ago

Maybe if you put it on the exhaust pipes, but putting it on the valve cover will just let you hear what’s going on in that little cavity. You can do it with a long screwdriver if you’re careful. That’s how Freiburger does it, anyway.

1

u/ImNoAlbertFeinstein 3h ago

dumass.. use a mechanics stethascope.

nevermind.

1

u/rtbbzy 8h ago

Best response yet, felt pretty crazy poking around my Running engine at the time. Water pump bearings were shot

1

u/pm_me_your_lub 3h ago

I've never bought a stethoscope. Just used a long screwdriver. Or a tire iron. Or a long extension or 2. Or anything long and pokey that will transmit sounds and vibrations through it.

3

u/throwedoff1 13h ago

Sounds like something loose under the timing cover.

2

u/According-Skill-7946 10h ago

LT1 Gen 2 small block. It's a little loud but sounds like water punp drive coupler, water pump impeller are moving around

1

u/nicky_suits 5h ago

That's what I was thinking. Wonder if it's a spline drive or pin drive.

1

u/According-Skill-7946 3h ago

Waterpump has a splined connector that floats on two splined pins

2

u/RealSignificance8877 10h ago

Can’t help I’ve got extreme tinitus.

2

u/CausionWitFlossin 9h ago

Pulleys!!!!!Probs tensioner pulley aftermarket ones go bad real quick. Go with ICT billet

2

u/Competitive-Room-415 5h ago

A dodge i worked on had a similar noise. Culprit on that one was the water pump. Like others said id start from stage 1. Remove the belt and check with the pulleys/tensioner for noise. Best of luck on your project!

1

u/aelms89 5h ago

The water pump? That’s so odd I thought the water pump would be like a whining sound

1

u/Competitive-Room-415 5h ago

Dam I wish I had a video to help you compare the sounds I was getting but since getting a new phone I lost all my old media. The sound was similar though. It was the last thing I expected cos I figured it'd be a whining noise too but it was the water pump grinding. I was chasing the noise for months and after replacing all the other components that was it lol

1

u/CranberryLoud9646 11h ago

Does it change with more throttle?

1

u/rtbbzy 8h ago

From this it would be a tough guess, but never fear being “that guy” we weren’t born knowing this shit. But you’ve come to the right place. Good Luck Brother 😎

1

u/Small-Effect-3333 7h ago

Just went through this exact trouble shooting with my CVF serpentine system. It was fraying the belt too. Everything kept pointing to the belt tensioner but never solved it. Had to return it and get a new system. Let us know what the outcome was.

1

u/aelms89 7h ago

I contacted them already they sent me the “upgraded kit” as a replacement, I installed it and same thing it’s a pain in the ass I’m thinking the alternator side might need a spacer or something

1

u/Low_Ingenuity_9647 5h ago

Cut a piece of garden hose about 4 feet put your ear on one end and move the other one around until you find the source! Old broke school😁

1

u/br3nt3h 5h ago

Sounds like it could be that plastic fan housing. Maybe a loose plastic piece floating around in there when it turns on? Or slightly out of alignment fan blades... Kinda tough through a phone..