My car makes a knocking sound at around 2.5k rpm to about 5.5k rpm at half throttle. no knock at idle and no knock at full throttle. cant hear the knock in 5th gear. I accidently ran the motor out of oil (first time using syn in this car), and was using 87octain with 19* timing (gf put in regular). the knock was really loud but then i did an oil change (back to conventional 10w30) and filled up with 92octain and the knock got alot quieter but is still there. any ideas?

i'd put money on a spun bearing, especially considering you ran it out of oil. The SR20 is so oil-pressure-sensitive it isn't funny. What you're explaining are classic symptoms of rod knock.

any way to temporarily fix?

no temporary fix. you need to replace your bearings. it is possible to drive with rod knock, but you risk throwing the rod in which case you need virtually a whole new engine, not just bearings and crank.

no temporary fix. you need to replace your bearings. it is possible to drive with rod knock, but you risk throwing the rod in which case you need virtually a whole new engine, not just bearings and crank.

he speaks the truth.

this is what rod knocks lead too:
http://a189.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/38/l_94d1ce296d086fd98944bd3018c6285c.jpg

(p.s. i bought it like this. didnt do it myself)

i'd swap in a new motor.

i'd swap in a new motor.

if u can afford not to drive it, pull the engine and tear it down. or buy another engine

My car makes a knocking sound at around 2.5k rpm to about 5.5k rpm at half throttle. no knock at idle and no knock at full throttle. cant hear the knock in 5th gear. I accidently ran the motor out of oil (first time using syn in this car), and was using 87octain with 19* timing (gf put in regular). the knock was really loud but then i did an oil change (back to conventional 10w30) and filled up with 92octain and the knock got alot quieter but is still there. any ideas?

All it takes is one time bro... once you are oil starved and you rev that thing up high... Youd be surprised how fast they get cooked.

It happened to me.

For what its worth... stop driving the car now... Pop the pans and check if you can afford to.

ill take a video of the sound so you guys can hear it, it doesnt sound that bad. I havent driven it in a good 3 weeks. but i cant really afford a new motor or any rebuilding atm. so im kind of between a rock and a hard place.

ill take a video of the sound so you guys can hear it, it doesnt sound that bad. I havent driven it in a good 3 weeks. but i cant really afford a new motor or any rebuilding atm. so im kind of between a rock and a hard place.

Not to be a downer, but mine didn't sound bad at all either. Then one day going down the freeway, it was louder than my stereo and exhaust. Next thing I knew the car jumped and smoke filled the cabin.

It creeps up on you, it sounds like something manageable at first, but trust us it's not. Obviously dropping in a new block is a solid choice (also the route I took), but if you don't have the money then try to drive it as little as possible until you do.

It's dangerous when a rod is thrown. It has enough force to fly out the block, punch holes in your oil pans, sear coolant lines, crack your radiator, and most dangerously go through the firewall and into you. Basically a thrown rod is a little hand grenade going off in your engine bay.

Just be careful and cautious until you fix the situation. Nothing sucks more than a forum member being injured in his vehicle.

Call Ron at Soko-soken Forum Price $350.00 plus freight.
800-598-3535

^number doesn't work anymore

change the bearings yourself. I am no mechanic but i did bears in 10 minutes (engine already out).

i knw this is an old thread and this kinda happen to me then i started to hear it go louder so before the rod shot out my motor i got towed home. i was just wondering if i were to get the rod bearing replaced would that do the job? alot of people are telling me that it was just the rod bearing only because as soon as i head the loud knock i pulled over so they think if i just replace the red bearing i should be fine..any input?

i knw this is an old thread and this kinda happen to me then i started to hear it go louder so before the rod shot out my motor i got towed home. i was just wondering if i were to get the rod bearing replaced would that do the job? alot of people are telling me that it was just the rod bearing only because as soon as i head the loud knock i pulled over so they think if i just replace the red bearing i should be fine..any input?

The crank will have scoring on it as well. You can do just the bearings, but I 100% guarantee it'll spin again.

the crank will not always have scoring on it, thus the reason behind the bearings being a lot softer metal than the crank journals, you would either for one have to have really really bad rod knock or run it for a long time with it or both, You can get away with replacing the bearings and you should be good to go for a long long time if the knock just started, I mean when i bought my current se-r the owner dented the pan soo bad the pan was smashed completely up against the pickup tube sealing it off almost completely, needless to say every single bearing in that motor spun and was knocking, he had drivin it like that for 500 miles, still with the pan dented. I got the car undented the pan and drove it home an parked it, The knocking was sooooo loud you can tell it was running like that for a long time, I put a jdm in and tore down the bottom end to inspect the bearings. All bearings were spun and were almost paper thin, There was only very slight scoring on the crank, probably still could have gotten away with replacing the bearings but the motor was soo not taken care of i didnt want to risk it. every seal was leaking and what not so i put the other motor in, if it just spun the bearing its very unlikely that any damage was done to the journals themselves. definetly not enough to worry about.

Ive seen many people just put a new set of bearings in and be done with it and have no problems whatsoever several 10's of thousands of miles later still rolling strong and ragged on. Matter fact i have to replace the bearings on my friends nx that just started knocking on #2, his pan was noticibly dented when i took it off to drill and tap the block for the turbo kit. So yeah i undented the pan but didnt know there was rod knock till i got it done otherwise i would have just replaced them then and there.

if he pushed it to the limit he described, it was an existing problem and probably damaged the crank surface. If the crank is okay, the just the bearings is an option.

thanks guys for the help im goijgn to try and check the crank hopefully this week and let you know. i really apreciate the advise thanks agian

no problem, i was just sayin, it has to be pretty bad and for a long time to even start damaging the crank to the point where it would be iffy to just replace the bearings, you should be fine man. But again if there is any doubt in your mind that there is too much wear then there is too much wear, you can throw a set of bearings in there but they probably wont last long if there is substantial wear on the crank journal. That would be a temp fix until you got a new motor.

how can you tell if there is damage to the crank? is it visual? like can you just look at it and see damage