GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

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It may be that when it's cold you have excessive valve clearance. Mine does this too when we have "really" cold mornings (40 degrees F and below). At room temperature, my clearances are all within spec at .015 MM. I think two valves are at the upper end of the acceptable scale (.030 MM or so). I had thought they were just all worn previously, but I just overhauled her and they were all fine.

It sounds like valve clatter to me as well. Use a stethoscope (a length of garden hose will do) and locate the source better.

Wow that is very obvious. Yours makes mine look quiet. One of the trade offs in the 1zzfe, has manually adjusted lifters instead of hydraulically adjusted. Appears to need some adjustment.

So valves we think? It does appear near the top of the motor..maybe towards the back passenger side if I had to estimate. I took the belt off...still there, so not the serp tensioner...

It started raining so the rubber hose stethoscope idea will have to wait.

Another day....

that is what my vibe is starting to sound like and it is driving me crazy,,just want it fixed and not sure how,,guess ill have to find a toyota mechanic to find out whats up with idle and noise..

jim14410 wrote:So valves we think? It does appear near the top of the motor..maybe towards the back passenger side if I had to estimate. I took the belt off...still there, so not the serp tensioner...

It started raining so the rubber hose stethoscope idea will have to wait.

Another day....

Really?

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jim14410 wrote:So now what, piston slap?

Piston slap makes more of a ringing noise. I'd honestly say that an engine overhaul would probably be excessively expensive if you have to have it performed by a shop. I spent about $5-600 on mine, sans my Crower stage 1 cams, and I did everything except the bore&hone myself.

Was roughly:
$200 for new pistons
$200 for gaskets
$100 on the machinework.

I would try replacing the timing chain tensioner, honestly. That will likely be what's leaking down the back of the engine as well. Someone here had theirs get seized up.

Yeah did that today...chain is tight...

Still got noise....

If you remove your oil pan or filter and see metal flakes in the bottom--like some kind of sick glitter explosion--you have big problems.

If not, I honestly wouldn't worry about it if everything runs well. It may be cheaper to wait for something catastrophic to happen than to try and hunt it down ahead of time. I know I'd often feel like I heard sounds that shouldn't be there, but when I tore the engine down (overhauled it due to low compression on two cylinders), everything was exactly as it should be except the piston oil rings at 102,000 miles.

I dunno, which part of TX do you live in? Maybe if I heard it in person, I could help you better. Most recordings have too much distortion, plus no sense of WHERE the noise is exactly.

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