Ticking on a 1999 Grand AM GT

[fo44rd]

Originally Posted by Sprucegagt

Sounds to me like you have some worn out bearings or oil pump.

bingo

the main bearings.

[BTarb24]

I don't have my repair manual handy. Will I have to pull the engine to change out the main bearings?

[BTarb24]

Originally Posted by traingeek087

did you ever run the thing with low oil?

No, it has never run on low oil. It had a LIM leak a couple years back but I only ever saw coolant coming out of the engine. I never saw any in my oil when doing changes and when I took off the LIM gasket the rubber on the gasket was in good shape for all the internal sections.

Originally Posted by traingeek087

I have a couple days off here from school and I've got a few books on engine diagnosis, when i get some time i'll do some searching to see if i can find anything. Good luck in the mean time.

That would be an incredible help. Once I know what I need to replace I am always good to go. It's finding out what is bad that is the tough part!

[BTarb24]

http://www.babcox.com/editorial/us/us80022.htm

this is a decent link that goes over oil pressure and its causes. It might help someone that searches later on.

[BTarb24]

After doing lots of reading I'm thinking that if I do the project then I'll want to replace my timing chain while I'm in there since it's never been done and I have 140k miles. Also, being that I have some hard knocking I probably have bad bearings so replacing my main and rod bearings would be a good idea.

Here's the part list i've accumulated so far:

$12 oil pump screen
$15 rod bearing set
$40 timing chain
$20 main bearing set
$55 oil pump (maybe)

How does this sound to everyone?

Should I also get the crank and cam sprockets for the timing chain change or are they generally not necessary? (assuming they look ok when I'm in there)

Should I replace the cam bearings?

[fo44rd]

Originally Posted by BTarb24

$55 oil pump (maybe)

?

spend the $55 and get a new oil pump if your going through all this.

[traingeek087]

yea i'm gonna stick with fo44rd on this one. I'm betting it's the bearings.

[BTarb24]

the haynes expects you to have disassembled the entire top end down do the block and have removed the pistons and rods before you pull out the crankshaft. Does anyone see a problem with removing the crankshaft with all of that still intact ? (i would obviously disconnected the rods though.)

Also, is it possible to change the crank and rod bearings without completely removing the crank?

[BTarb24]

migrated problem over to: timing chain, crankshaft bearings, rod bearings