Im sure this has been talked about, but
(1) Im sick
(2) Im in school and have tests this week and don't have much time to search around forums for obscure threads.

My 1996 Landrover started sounding like it was knocking a few weeks ago, so immediately I stopped driving it. Having another project car that is waiting for a transmission, being sick, and having college doesn't leave me much time to tinker on it. So I need some help please.

Info:

I took the car to a pretty reputable mechanic the other day and he started trying to figure out what the noise was. He said it was either the top or bottom lifters making racket but he didn't know which. I only know about 4 cylinder DOHC engines, so I have never heard of "bottom lifters" can anybody shed some light on these? Does that statement even make sense about the top or bottom lifters? If it does, then can somebody provide some insight as to why they are knocking?

Also, the car is still misfiring in the number 7 cylinder. Spark plug is brand new, wires are brand new, injector is brand new. The coil pack is good because the other cylinder associated with it doesn't misfire. So I am beginning to think that it is something wrong inside the engine, could the piston be messed up really bad on the top and the compression ratio is so off that its not causing a spark?

Thanks,
Brian

 

Maybe by bottom lifters he means the tappets and by top lifters he means the pushrods? You have tappets in the "v" of your engine that ride the camshaft and these lift the pushrods that open and close your valve train (under your rocker covers). "Rod knock" is not a common thing in these engines. Sure you could wear out a tappet or bend a pushrod but that only happens in an abused engine.

Assuming that you have ignition in all cylinders (you may want to check 7). The noise could be as simple as a stuck valve which could also explain the misfire. Have you tried an induction cleaning and an engine flush?

 

By engine flush do you mean something like seafoam, or taking off the valve covers and cleaning everything out as good as I can?

I know that the problem started when the engine was run very hard under extreme load (buried their foot into the floorboard showing off) and then I bought the truck for dirt cheap.

 

anybody else got any insight?

 

Sounds like a sticky valve, like it isn't seating right,or at all. You could try an engine flush or induction cleaning, nothing to lose and you might get lucky.

 

@ lilpad

Went out and performed a spark check on the car, all of them are working and sparking correctly.

 

You need to perform a leakdown test on #7 that will tell for sure of the valves are stuck or if it's lack of compression. Since I don't know if you have the tool, or a compressor, the same mechanic mentioned above should be able to do it.