Suddenly engine knocking noise

[cooter131]

Hi all,

I am a new member from Greece and I think that I finally found the right place to ask my question concerning my car.
It's FIAT Mirafiori (sorry - not a Spider) but the engine is a 1608cc from a 124 Spider.

That makes me feel comfortable asking you guys:

The motor is pretty much reliable and fun to deal with.
In fact it WAS since yesterday! Suddenly when I started the engine I heard a noise from the engine compartment (like something broke?) and then it carried on making a noise like throwng a coin into a blender!

It seems to cease when idling and appear when reving up. It has no specific frequency. In fact it sounds like something has broken into the engine and when hit by something else it moves arround freely. Can't really tell if it's close to upper or lower end of the motor.

Oil pressure warning light is off and performance is like before (I only drove 1km at low speed but it seemed ok).
Idle speed seems as usual.


Have you ever faced something like that before?

Any help will be very appreciated.

Thanks in advance and please excuse the so long post.

George K.

[mdrburchette]

Welcome George. I have an Aunt that lives in Athens and hope to visit her one day.
As for your noise, I have no clue what it could be but you may find something if you drain the oil and check with a magnet and strainer to see if there's anything in the oil. My X19 had a noise and I found a little piece of metal in the oil. Of course, this isn't good news but with 150k miles I knew it would have to be rebuilt eventually. You can also pinpoint the noise a little closer by using a long screwdriver as a stethoscope and putting it on different parts of the engine to see where the noise is loudest.
You may also want to pull the shield off the flywheel and see if something has gotten in there and hitting the flywheel. My Spider had a noise when the starter came apart and the pieces were in that cover.
I'm sure others with more mechanical knowledge than me will chime in soon!

[rlux4]

Did you happen to hit the oil pan recently? A dent in it can break the oil pick up tube and cause a banging. You might check that the auxilliary pulley isn't out of position also.
Ron

[pope]

I think one of the valve springs broke, got sucked into the piston chamber and got tossed around like a nut in a blender like you said. Take the cam covers off and inspect the valves and springs. Spiders have two springs per valve, one inside the other. Look very carefully. If that is what it is, it will leave a bunch of little to medium size dings in the top of the piston. If a spring is broke, to extract the piece is easy, take the sparkplug of the cylinder that it is in, off and use one of those magnetic finders for getting dropped bolts in engine compartments.

[So Cal Mark]

how could a valve spring get sucked into a cylinder? I'll agree it sounds like something in a cylinder but unlikely it's a valve spring. More common items are the nuts that hold the air cleaner in place

[pope]

Your right Mark, what was I thinking. Wonder if a bit of ceramic cracked off one of the spark plugs? Or like you said, something got sucked in through the intake.

[Fi8spider]

Yiasou George!!....Check that the timing marks line up. Whats it like to start?

[cooter131]

Hi again,

First of all I would like to thank you all for your quick and accurate replies.

I have some good news.

After removing the camshaft covers -like you suggested- I found nothing unusual.
I was ready to remove the spark plugs and then the oil pan to check inside, when I decided to have a look first at the starter motor and the flywheel.
(It seemed to me that the noise was louder at that point).

Well, after removing the starter motor I found that the cover was broken and the other part was trapped behind the flywheel cover. With engine running the flywheel was hitting the broken part causing this noise.

I am looking for a new starter motor now. (Which is great news comparing to what else could have been damaged!)

I will come back with photos and news when this great motor is back on the streets

Once again, thank you all !!!

[rlux4]

Good going Cooter.
Next!
Ron

[So Cal Mark]

I have the new lightweight, easy to install, gear reduction starters in stock

[mdrburchette]

Great to hear you found the problem!