Hey guys. So I brought my new 65 Riviera out of its five year semi-hibernation on saturday. I had filled her up with new rotella and put a new filter on before I fired her up for the first time. The drain plug was a bit loose but I was hoping it would be okay. Over the course of running it for a few hours up on blocks she really started dripping from it. So I put one of those expandable rubber ones in with a fresh batch of rotella and a new filter in since the oil that had only been run for a few hours was black as could be. Got everything working and took it up to a show on saturday. About a mile from home the engine started screetching and knocking. Threw it in neutral, turned it off and coasted most of the way home. Started it back up and pulled in the driveway and then shut it off. Started it up sunday and the screetching was gone. Had an inconsistant knoocking sound, sounded like a stuck or collapsed lifter. Dumped a quart of atf in and ran it. Didn't get better. Pulled the valve cover and lightly tapped the rocker arms with a rubber hammer while it was at idle. Didn't help. Then the screetching came back. At first I thought it was the water pump but it sound internal almost under the valley cover. Oil pressure is 23 psi at idle which seems fine. One weird thing I noticed is the heads have what almost looks like antiseeze sludged up in some areas. If you stick your finger under the pool of oil it's a silver paste below. Could this be bearing material? I found a couple pieces of nylon under the valve cover. But the timing doesn't seem irratic so that leads me to believe that the timing chain is still good. The engine supposedly only has 30,000 on a rebuild. Any ideas?
One weird thing I noticed is the heads have what almost looks like antiseeze sludged up in some areas. If you stick your finger under the pool of oil it's a silver paste below. Could this be bearing material? That would be metal wear particles. That should not be after a rebuild that's only 30,000 miles ago. Usually you see that sludge in a high mileage engine that has not been taken care of(infrequent oil changes). Bruce
Little Update, the noise went away for a couple minutes last night. Then I reved it up a bit and she started clanking away again. I pulled the plug wires one at a time and it made no difference to the noise so it must be valvetrain related. I picked up a couple filters, some oil, and some engine flush. I'll throw a new filter in then dump the flush in tonight. Run it then change the oil and filter and see if that helps me out at all. Anybody have any other tips? Thanks, Scott
Be careful and follow the directions on the engine flush. I ruined a perfectly good 351 windsor when I was a kid.
My bet is that the cam bearings left the machine shop way too tight. (as they usually do ) The front bearing feeds oil to the lifters through the groove in the front bearing. It has probably spun in the block, and the lifters aren't getting any oil, along with the rocker arms. To check this, remove both shafts and all 8 spark plugs. Crank her over for a couple minutes, and if you don't see oil spurting out the front rocker mounting stud holes then that proves my theory. :idea2: Good luck, wish I had better news, and if it's not too late.....DON'T FLUSH IT, BAD IDEA!
Well the flush never made it in. I noticed that oil wasn't coming out of all the rocker arms. The oil is getting up there, but there must be internal passages blocked within the arms themselves. I think I'm just going to rebuild it. Didn't really want to do that since, when the engine is out you should clean up the engine compartment, well now the engine compartment looks nicer then the outside of the car and you know where that goes. I bought this car because I thought I would be able to drive it right away. Looks like I have another major project on my hands.
