cars-guy

Hey all i have been having the strangest issue with my 82 22r. Its a rebuilt motor from davez offroad with only 20,000 miles on the ticker. I was wheeling about a month ago and things were getting pretty bumpy. I hit a big bump and the motor started making a noticeable rhythmic ticking. seemed to happen about once every crankshaft rotation and changed with rpm. After continuing to drive it the noise slowly started fading away over about 5 miles. A month later the noise came back with a vengeance. I hit a speed bump and immediately it started clicking. Actually clacking. It was louder then ever and could probably be heard across the parking lot. I was only 1 block from my house so i drove it home and started investigating. I have traced the noise to #1 cylinder and forward and not in the head or valves. When cold the noise was almost gone but once it warmed up its almost like an immediate switch and it comes back. I was about to pull the timing cover and investigate when my neighbor comes over and wants to hear the noise too. I had just drained the coolant but started it for a second anyway and to my surprise it was completely gone. It was raining and i really didn't feel like pulling things apart and since it was running ok i put the coolant back in and drove it 15 miles today with no issues, runs fine. Seems to be related to cooling system and i'm thinking water pump but what the hell in the pump could cause that? any other ideas before i pull it all apart? Something in the timing chain? oil pump? Jesus playing pranks?

81 4X4

It's hard to diagnose something like that on the internet. Maybe it's happened to someone else and they can help you. What I would do is put coolant back in it and start it up. If the noise is back take the fan belt off and see if it goes away. If it goes away then I would look at the water pump. That's about the only ting I know to do from the other side of a computer.

WolfMann

Did you say you checked the valve lash? I had a ticking/clacking noise that changed with rpm and went away after I did a valve lash adjustment. Not sure how coolant would affect that but it might be worth checking. Other thought is the wheel/fan in the water pump. If it got knocked loose in that big bump maybe it's hitting something.

toy_tek

Since it started when you hit a bump, check your engine mounts and make sure the engine didn't shift... the fan could be hitting the shroud or something like that. Recently happened to a friend of mine.