Next i want to step back to somewhere around 1985 or so and discuss popping back through the carburetor and what to check for as allot of us have either raised kids or have teens that found that cool old car and to meet moms approval her little tiger should not drive a car that has a flamethrower routine going on under the hood this will most certainly result in getting something she feels is more safe for the first car thus creating a new monthly car payment. lets look into this wicked symptom and solve the puzzle,If the car is snapping through the carburetor we need to determine a couple of things about the vehicle first, is it electronic ignition or points triggered ignition system? if it's electronic ignition I would recommend to get a timing light and start by checking the timing on the car and set to OEM manufacturers recommended setting in accordance with altitude.if you put the light on it and not to far off but snaps through the carburetor how many miles are on the car? if car is reaching 100 rounds or 100,000 miles its possible the timing chain has stretched almost beyond recommended limits as manufacturing plants used nylon coated timing gears at the factory which in time the teeth break off and chain will stretch and sometimes "jump time" evident by the car backfiring and dying then upon a restart attempt either difficult to crank or cranks but does not cough I would replace or have timing chain replaced. Its fair to say that if its snapping the harmonic Balencer needs to be examined as well due to the fact the inertia ring sandwiched in the middle of the Balencer slips and breaks down causing a dangerous non balanced condition on the crankshaft putting the main bearings in the path of grave danger. cheaper to replace Balancer versus rebuild engine. i want to hop back in the time machine once more and touch on points style ignition and the importance of keeping up on the dwell of the vehicle as when the points ware the gap can increase sending a COOLER SPARK to the coil and in extreme cases causing or contributing to the backfire all info recommended for electronic ignition needs checked as well.
Ticking sound in engine bay: this is another very tricky problem to trace out and if you are the do it yourself er i have been there and done that when it comes to figuring out what it is that causes this sound. 8 out of 10 times a novice would go to the parts house buying either valve cover gaskets or valve lifters when the problem can be a little more widespread then it appears. lets start with basics here i need you to get a pad of paper and start making notes for yourself to help trace what is going on meaning this: is car an automatic or standard transmission? if automatic your flywheel may have cracks in it around the crank mounting flange why? if your radio and sub woofer combo is impressing the heck out of your buddy and you accidentally try to re-start your running vehicle do you have any idea what kind of trauma that causes to flywheel? this is common on the 3.8 fords and on rare occasion the 2.9l. if you had recently replaced spark plugs in your car its not uncommon to not have a plug against the firewall perfectly tight as the ratchet combo was not cooperating and it felt like it was tight! to rule this out you can again put car up on jack stands pull your front wheel off on suspect side and reach plug through fender well area with the correct spark plug socket and a large box end wrench over the top of the socket as it has a special hex design wrench will fit over on spark plug sockets only. ok so your plugs are tight before we work into the valve trane area of the car while you have wheels off of the car we need to position ourself under exhaust manifold of car to verify the pipe is firmly bolted to the exhaust manifold. now the exhaust donut is a spacer that neatly fits between exhaust pipe and exhaust manifold flange and should never be positioned crooked or broken unless perhaps you recently had a new transmission installed or "slapped on" your new mail order high flow exhaust system a crooked or mal aligned pipe gives quick little bursts of air which can sound like a "tick" ok so now its mid-day and you have destroyed your subway sandwich we need to get onto the top side of motor to investigate lets start by carefully removing the valve covers to inspect the rocker arms and push rods. most mass produced engines of late have a non-adjustable rocker arm with the small block chevy being an exception here so i would pull one valve cover at a time and start the car and observe the valve trane in action without the cover on first on the right then on the left hand or passenger side valve cover are push rods bent or flopping around? if no observe rocker arms if you are standing over one that appears extremely loud shut car off and torque to repair manual specifications.if working on a small block Chevy i would recommend going through setting the valve lash found on the engine section of your repair manual if after setting valve lash you sound like a train mechanically working down the tracks i would pull suspect lifter in the questionable hole and replace. cautionary check your motor manual to determine if its something you feel comfortable doing first as we will be pulling the intake manifold to access lifter.
engine knock: a knock is a knock is a knock not good most who here this know the power plant should be read its last rights as a catastrophic failure is hiding around the corner and unless shut down immediately an engine rebuild or short block replace is almost immanent if you don't listen to your radio much turn key off the second something doesn't sound right its a very slight possibility you can replace rod/piston assembly in the offending cylinder by pulling head intake manifold and oil pan but something to keep in mind is the fact that perhaps the wrist pin has broke,rod has bent or possibly rod bolt broke destroying the crank so careful disassemble should include crank journal inspection for scaring as well as thorough cylinder wall inspection to make sure cylinder has not been scar'd you will also need a glaze breaker and a mixture of kerosene and oil to hone cylinder cover crank before running glaze breaker then wash and blow dry with air compressor and oiled cylinder before reassembly.
