Loud knocking noise from engine - ES 300 (urgent)

I own a '92 ES 300. It has 85,000 mile on it. Yesterday, when I was driving on freeway, I heard some knocking sound coming from engine. So I took an immediate exit. When I stopped the car at an intersection, the engine was completely turned off. When I tried to start the car again, huge rattling noise was coming from engine and didn't start. I tried a couple of times. Finally it started but the noise was still there and the car could hardly run.

I had two mechanics check this out. Both came up with same findings. As the second mechanic told, the sound is not coming from topside of the engine. If it is, it could be some head problem. It can be fixed with minor effort (less expense). Since it's inside, he advised me to change the engine with new one or rebuilt.

The noise goes up when engine is accelerated and comes down when it's idling.

Is it really an engine problem or anything to do with oil pressure or oil pan? It has on qt. oil in it. It has run 2,500 miles since the last oil change.

What could have caused this problem? Is it worth of changing the engine? Did anybody ever change the engine? What will be the cost of having a rebuilt engine?

Please advice guys...

Thanks

Reply to
Bahu
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There are fairly quick and inexpensive ways to determine what's really wrong with your engine with high confidence. Have the car towed (not driven, please) to a real mechanic, one who knows enough to do more than offer an opinion about where the noise is located, and get a real diagnosis. Then proceed from fact instead of speculation.

-- Pete

Bahu wrote:

Reply to
Pete

Deep, loud knocking noises that change with engine RPM can be REAL bad - typically rod bearings or worse, a broken connecting rod. I'd try and find a better mechanic that can do an accurate diagnosis - they'll typically pull the oil pan and examine the engine's lower end.

If it is something serious like this you have a variety of options, none cheap. If the rest of the engine is sound, you might be able to just have the bearing replaced, but I suspect it won't be that simple. If the engine has major damage, you could go the junkyard engine route, have your engine completely rebuilt, or put in a remfg engine. So your costs could be anything from a few hundred to several thousand.

If the rest of the car has had a tough life, might be time to just walk away and junk it.

The key thing here is to find a shop that is very competent in doing deep engine work/engine replacement and that you have some trust in to steer you in the right direction. Try to get some referrals from others in selecting your shop and confirm that they've done this sort of work before. You need an accurate diagnosis and sound advice. If you don't feel you can find such a shop, I'd sell it as is and walk away.

- Mark

Reply to
markjen

I had a Ford Escort with a failed water pump bearing - made this sort of noise when the pump impeller rubbed against the side of the engine block. It was easy to spot, you could see the pump pulley moving around when the engine was idling.

BTW - I was limping home with it and the pump developed so much play that the cam belt jumped off - so if you value your valves etc. I'd make sure this isn't the problem before running the engine for much longer.

Reply to
Bob Huntley

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