Knocking noise on a 97 Toyota Camry?

Question

I have a 97 toyota camry with 127,000 miles on it. I was driving it back in December and heard a loud knock and noticed a sudden loss of power. I dismantled the engine and found that a rod on the number one piston broke. Well, at that time, I decided to rebuild the engine. I bought new rods, new pistons, new rings, had the crank turned, new main bearings, new rod bearings, new oil pump, new seals. The only thing I did not have worked on is the head. I did a visual inspection, and it looked good. Well now finishing the rebuild, the engine is making a knocking noise on the top end. I did set the gear on the exhaust cam correctly. I don't know what else it could be? Any help is welcome. Thanks

Answer 1

If its not a rod it could be a lifter, they usually knock or rattle all the time and even louder if you rev up the engine, the easy way to tell a lifter is use a hose or something and stick your ear to it, you can also get some cleaner to put in it after changing your oil and it may help if your lifter is stuck, you may have dirt or something causing it to stay stuck. Hope this helped you out some. Good luck.

Answer 2

Did you replace the cam at the time of rebuild? Also did you change the lifters if you did replace cam? Another thing is if you used the old cam/lifters did you put all lifters back in there correct location on the lobe as they were removed? Now assuming you did either change cam and lifter OR accidentally mis-placed a few lifters on the lobes.. Did you do the break in process? If you do not do the break in process for a minimal of 20 minutes you can lose a cam lobe in no time flat. If you dont know.. the break in process is AS SOON as the engine starts for the first time after build, you get the RPM's up to 2,000 *the idea is to want over 1,500rpm's and hold it there for 20 minutes.. you should also have had the proper grease on every lobe prior to install. Not saying this is your problem but is one the most overlooked by someone who rebuilds an engine without knowing the tricks

Answer 3

Is it more of a tapping noise? It could be the lifters. They dry up after a while of sitting. It might take some time to build pressure in them.

Answer 4

sounds like when you put the head back on, you did,nt get the lifters set right.