Rod knockin'

AA Ford Discussion Group relating to the repair and restoration of your AA Ford.
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Chris Haynes
Posts: 2203
Joined: September 7th, 2003, 5:18 pm
Body Type: 82A
Model Year: 1930
Location: Camarillo, CA

Rod knockin'

Post by Chris Haynes »

I have developed a rod knock. Time to pull the pan and see whats happening. Hopefully the crank isn't damaged. That would open a big can of worms. I guess that answered my question whether my engine had poured or inserted bearings.
birdacre
Posts: 480
Joined: October 8th, 2013, 2:37 pm
Body Type: AA express
Model Year: 1928

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by birdacre »

i had the same thing. engine nice for a month and then a knock started. the pin bearings or connecting rod journals were tapered one end to the other. some of the babbit even looked like it had been patched. i was lucky to find a good used engine, yeah right, he warranted it, said to drive it for a few weeks before paying him 200 dollars. to this day it is great. very lucky. my first engine came with the truck and no history and was a crap shoot. hope yours is ok, post updates. kevin
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Chris Haynes
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Joined: September 7th, 2003, 5:18 pm
Body Type: 82A
Model Year: 1930
Location: Camarillo, CA

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by Chris Haynes »

It may not be a rod bearing. My engine is still running smooth at idle and low speed.When I accelerate to mid range or higher it has a ferocious hard rattle.
birdacre
Posts: 480
Joined: October 8th, 2013, 2:37 pm
Body Type: AA express
Model Year: 1928

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by birdacre »

i also grounded each spark plug one at a time to hear where noise was coming from. an old man showed me to also listen through a 30inch section of garden hose as well to ascertain the noise. hope all is well. kevin
Stakebed
Posts: 1223
Joined: June 14th, 2007, 7:29 pm
Body Type: Grainbox
Model Year: 1929
Location: Illinois

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by Stakebed »

And your SURE its from inside the engine? Could be flywheel/clutch related. Does it do it in neutral when your stopped and revving the engine? Clutch depressed and revving VS released?

Is it only under a load? What about when in reverse? driveshaft can transmit sounds to many places...
MrBill
Posts: 6
Joined: February 14th, 2018, 3:11 pm
Body Type: CCPU
Model Year: 1929

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by MrBill »

mine recently started knocking too...when I shorted out the plugs number 3 cyl was the one and it made a double knock then...pulled pan and found piston pin loose in piston and others had loose pin bushings
Cschaff63
Posts: 98
Joined: September 14th, 2017, 5:57 pm
Body Type: Dump
Model Year: 1928
Location: Pa

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by Cschaff63 »

Chris Haynes wrote:
March 14th, 2018, 10:19 am
It may not be a rod bearing. My engine is still running smooth at idle and low speed.When I accelerate to mid range or higher it has a ferocious hard rattle.
Did you ever find that rattle? mine just started doing the same thing. My engine is a fresh rebuild by Antique Engines
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Chris Haynes
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Joined: September 7th, 2003, 5:18 pm
Body Type: 82A
Model Year: 1930
Location: Camarillo, CA

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by Chris Haynes »

It was all of my bearings.
KimVanOrder
Posts: 753
Joined: August 11th, 2013, 4:25 pm
Body Type: 82-A Platform
Model Year: 1928
Location: Hamilton, Mich.

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by KimVanOrder »

Chris Haynes wrote:
August 2nd, 2019, 11:19 pm
It was all of my bearings.
But what about the truck bearings? :lol:
KVO
Dec. '28 AA
Cschaff63
Posts: 98
Joined: September 14th, 2017, 5:57 pm
Body Type: Dump
Model Year: 1928
Location: Pa

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by Cschaff63 »

I lucked out on this one, turns out my timing was too far advanced. Retarded the time, and the rattle stopped!
Cschaff63
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Body Type: Dump
Model Year: 1928
Location: Pa

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by Cschaff63 »

Cschaff63 wrote:
August 8th, 2019, 2:20 pm
I lucked out on this one, turns out my timing was too far advanced. Retarded the time, and the rattle stopped!
Well, maybe spoke too soon, when I retarded the timing, the rattle or clatter sound went away. Now it is back at a different rpm and under load mostly, I’m running a Zipper centrifugal distributor, is it possible it is not functioning as it is supposed to? Sure seems like it is timing related somehow!
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1crosscut
Posts: 877
Joined: December 25th, 2010, 7:22 pm
Body Type: 82-A
Model Year: 1929
Location: Lincoln, NE

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by 1crosscut »

Go back to the stock distributor set up and see if that helps. That way you will know if that is the problem.
You don't want to be running it if it is so advanced it's causing it to knock. Engines don't like that.
------------
Dave
Cschaff63
Posts: 98
Joined: September 14th, 2017, 5:57 pm
Body Type: Dump
Model Year: 1928
Location: Pa

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by Cschaff63 »

1crosscut wrote:
August 11th, 2019, 2:10 pm
Go back to the stock distributor set up and see if that helps. That way you will know if that is the problem.
You don't want to be running it if it is so advanced it's causing it to knock. Engines don't like that.
Well, turns out the rattle was not timing related, I thought it was because I could change when the rattling occurred by adjusting the timing. It now shows up only under load, so dropped the pan and checked rod bearings. All the rod bearings are wiped! Engine builder says they appear to be oil starved. It is a fresh build with insert bearings and run through the proper break in cycle for first 100 miles. Oil levels were maintained. Did I maybe run the rpms too high when I took it on it’s first real road trip?
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1crosscut
Posts: 877
Joined: December 25th, 2010, 7:22 pm
Body Type: 82-A
Model Year: 1929
Location: Lincoln, NE

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by 1crosscut »

Cschaff63 wrote:
August 31st, 2019, 6:24 am
1crosscut wrote:
August 11th, 2019, 2:10 pm
Go back to the stock distributor set up and see if that helps. That way you will know if that is the problem.
You don't want to be running it if it is so advanced it's causing it to knock. Engines don't like that.
Well, turns out the rattle was not timing related, I thought it was because I could change when the rattling occurred by adjusting the timing. It now shows up only under load, so dropped the pan and checked rod bearings. All the rod bearings are wiped! Engine builder says they appear to be oil starved. It is a fresh build with insert bearings and run through the proper break in cycle for first 100 miles. Oil levels were maintained. Did I maybe run the rpms too high when I took it on it’s first real road trip?
That is very unfortunate. If your oil level was maintained and it is a fresh rebuild I don't see how your builder could say it was oil starved. Did you have lots of oil leaking out of the engine? A fresh rebuild should not need to have much if any oil added to it between 500 mile oil changes. If it is using oil to the point that you have had to add it regularly I would be quite unhappy with the builder.
I am old school and using a self advancing distributor is somewhat foreign to me as I like using a stock distributor and know that it will give excellent performance when used properly. I've read many posts on forums of folks that have had issues getting the "new fangled" distributor upgrades to work correctly.
That said perhaps it is possible that your non stock distributor if not set up correctly may have contributed to your troubles.
How many miles do you have on your engine?
Is it still under warranty?
------------
Dave
Cschaff63
Posts: 98
Joined: September 14th, 2017, 5:57 pm
Body Type: Dump
Model Year: 1928
Location: Pa

Re: Rod knockin'

Post by Cschaff63 »

1crosscut wrote:
August 31st, 2019, 7:28 pm
Cschaff63 wrote:
August 31st, 2019, 6:24 am
1crosscut wrote:
August 11th, 2019, 2:10 pm
Go back to the stock distributor set up and see if that helps. That way you will know if that is the problem.
You don't want to be running it if it is so advanced it's causing it to knock. Engines don't like that.
Well, turns out the rattle was not timing related, I thought it was because I could change when the rattling occurred by adjusting the timing. It now shows up only under load, so dropped the pan and checked rod bearings. All the rod bearings are wiped! Engine builder says they appear to be oil starved. It is a fresh build with insert bearings and run through the proper break in cycle for first 100 miles. Oil levels were maintained. Did I maybe run the rpms too high when I took it on it’s first real road trip?
That is very unfortunate. If your oil level was maintained and it is a fresh rebuild I don't see how your builder could say it was oil starved. Did you have lots of oil leaking out of the engine? A fresh rebuild should not need to have much if any oil added to it between 500 mile oil changes. If it is using oil to the point that you have had to add it regularly I would be quite unhappy with the builder.
I am old school and using a self advancing distributor is somewhat foreign to me as I like using a stock distributor and know that it will give excellent performance when used properly. I've read many posts on forums of folks that have had issues getting the "new fangled" distributor upgrades to work correctly.
That said perhaps it is possible that your non stock distributor if not set up correctly may have contributed to your troubles.
How many miles do you have on your engine?
Is it still under warranty?
I only have around 130 miles on the engine. The engine builder is sending me new bearings and pan gaskets! I kept checking my oil level and did not have to add any from original fill. I! Gonna replace the bearing and try again I guess. The timing was a bit advanced, but I can' believe that caused my bearings to wipe out
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