O.k. i finally got the oil pan off and started to have a look around at the rods and everything looks to be alright i guess what the heck am i looking for that would cause any kind of knocking noise??? You can move the rods side to side a little bit but not up and down if you know what i mean.. I had a look in the oil pan and there is no filings of anykind just some sludge and a little dirty maybe from sitting so long. How do i check and see if the rod bearings are any good and if they have spun,do i have to take a rod cap off. I would like to do a thourough check if i can. would the oil pump make a clacking sound after it warms up a bit. i will probably replace the oil pan gasket and maybe the rear seal while i have the pan off.Well i think that's all i have for now my brain is hurting along with my neck from laying under the beast arrrrggg!!!. Thanks guys for understanding

 

If the noise it was making was more or less than a lifter tick, but wasn't a lifter, good chance its rod bearings. Hope that make sense.

 

I would pull the caps one at a time and check the cap side of the bearing. You'll notice HUGE amounts of wear on the bearing or there will be no bearing left. The are sometimes hard to move in place. Get a 1/2" ratchet with the correct socket for the end of the crankshaft so you can rotate the crank. Its a slow process but worth it. You should also get some plastigage to check the tolerances between the bearing and the crank. I would check with the old bearings and see what it looks like. If you don't find it then its probably a sticking lifter or bent pushrod or something like that.

 

probally lifters...i wouldnt mess with the rods/mains....you will be wasting your $$ if you put in new bearings. put a new oil pump/rear main seal/oil pan gasket. bolt it back up.

 

directions for plastigage on a crank
http://www.ehow.com/how_2142943_use-...learances.html

 

I wouldn't start pulling rod and main bearings unless you have planned ahead of time to just rebuild the whole motor. You do realize all the bearings have the same amount of miles on them. If you replace one now, you will just be repalcing another in a day, week, month. Trust me as a guy who has dropped his oil pan a few times, you don't want to make a habit of doing it.

 

If I had my oil pan off I would at least change the oil pump and screen. Possibly even put a high volume pump in to help regain better pressure. Like another guy before said try to move the rods to see if there is play. They should only move side to side a bit not up or down. I would not start pulling anything else apart on the bottom end unless you find something obviously wrong.

 

First off i would like to say thanks for all the replys they are great!! I pulled the rear main cap off and redid the rear main seal. the bearing in the rear main looks really good actually no deep grooves,no scoring and no brass showing. I think i will pull some rod caps off though and see if there is wear in them. I don't know if i mentioned or not but the jeep has 271,000 kms on it so i think if i do find some significant wear in the rod bearings i am just going to put the pan back on throw some heavyer weight oil in her and save my money for a engine. I haven't had the valve cover off yet to check for excessive lifter play on the push rods to see if maybe a lifter has collapsed or is there another way to check for bad lifters?

well think i will get back at it and see what i can do and thanks again guys for your input and interest...

 

Are you sure you do not have engine knock? how loud was the knocking?
What year is it?
I would leave everything, besides the pump unless you're ready for a whole rebuild.

 

be sure to torque the main and rod caps properly or you will be doing a rebuild faster than you want

 

Why are you guys telling him not to pull the caps off? It does no harm but to check things out. Ive built, and maintained tons of motors in all variations and know that its a very simple task. You also wont have to build the whole motor in doing that. It is a good idea to replace the oil pump with that many miles.

Your smart by checking the cap bearings. Leave the crank alone since those rarely go before the rods. I wouldn't change them out unless there's not a bearing left. You don't want to just leave a bad bearing in there to eat up your crankshaft, especially since your going to wait on the rebuild. Let me know how it goes.

 

yes you bet i torqued them and then rechecked 3 times!!

 

I put it all back together now. I didn't end up checking the rod caps to see anything. I think i'm just going to run her now. I put some 20 50w oil and with hopes it would quite it down but no luck Someone else told me to take each spark plug off when running and if it was a rod bearing or wrist pin it should quite down but it was still there at every wire removal. I think for my last ditch effort i am going to pull the tranny and have a look at the flex plate,besides the torque converter bolts were loose when i first strarted diagnosing this sound. i red lock tighted them up and the clacking is there maybe the crank bolts are loose... how big of a deal is it to remove the tranny can one guy do it with no prob... once again thanks to everyones interest again..

 

did you check for wear with the plastigage

 

does this noise go away arounf 2k Rpms?