Squeek noise from drivers rear of engine??

[Guest Gomer]

I have a 1989 reatta with 119,000 miles on it.

I have had this squeek type noise for about 3000 miles now. At first it would come and go but has recently gotten worse and is now a constant noise. Apears to be comming from drivers rear of engine. Car is parked now untill i have the money to repair it.

I have actualy recently repaired my parents 95 trans sport for what i think is the same noise. unfortunatly theirs got to the point of causing a missfire. What i found in the trans sport was the lifter roller on the drivers rear cylnder had a flat spot in it. I cant remember intake or exhaust) The cam also had lost 0.030 lift on that lobe. Put new lifters in it just to get buy for a few months. Van has almost 350,000 km on it. Runs ok now.

Ok now for the questions. Is this a comon problem with the 3.8/3800?

Are the lifters in this engine also roller lifters?

If this was your car would you just replace the lifters or would you remove the engine and do the cam and lifters together? (I will be checking cam for damage before going ahead with lifters only)

Could this "squeek" type noise be anything else?

The engine still has great oil pressure around 40 psi at idel warm. No missfires. No engine codes. Infact it still runs and drives great. Car is stock except for muffler.

Thanks for any insight you may have. Really Like driving this car and miss it already.

[Guest mounthopewalt]

The cheapest test would be to add a Wynn's oil additive for lifters to see if the noise changes or goes away.

[Guest Gomer]

I have the wynn's 80+ additive in the car. Is this the additive you are recomending? The noise has gotten worse in the last 100 km or so. I did the oil change 500 km ago with the 80+ additive and did not see any metal in the oil. Can't realy go by the oil since there was no fillings in the trans sport's oil.

Im going to pull it apart next weekend and see what i find. only $100 for gaskets if i don't find anything. Im also thinking i should uncouple the tourque converter and make sure it is in the motor and not the transmission. I will post pics of what i find.

[Ronnie]

Sometimes sounds can fool you where they are coming form. Have you removed the serpentine belt to eliminate external items from being the sourch of the sound you are hearing?

[padgett]

Also is it present when parked/idling ? If only when moving the upper strut bearing can have a very annoying squeek.

[Guest Gomer]

I have removed the serp belt and the noise is still there. The noise is most noticable idling in park. (Quite loud) At first i thought it was the exhaust cross over pipe rear flange leaking but there apears to be no carbon trails around it or leak felt. I have used a camera to check for leaks on the bottom of the pipe.

I am a red seal mechanic and i have all the tools to diagnose but i speichalize in Toyota, european and ford. The other mechanics work on most of the gm drivetrains so this is an area im not familliar with. I won't own anything but gm though.

Im going to remove the tourq converter bolts and run again. Won't get to it till friday. Racing tomorrow and i need to get our cars ready.

Thanks again for the help.

Edited June 15, 2011 by Gomer (see edit history)

[Jim]

I don't have any torque converters to look at right now but I have seen were the flex plate will crack and then the squeak can come from the two pieces of metal rubbing together.

[Guest Mike_s]

Is the whynn's a oil thickener to quiet/mask/lube things or a detergent for cleaning gunked up lifters?

Remote guess here but a broken exhaust pipe spring @ the manifold?

fuel injector?, egr, idle air controller? kitchen sink?

Edited June 15, 2011 by Mike_s (see edit history)

[Guest Gomer]

I actualy had the flex plate replaced a year ago. I didn't do it so i wonder if the bolts are tight?? I guess if i unbolt the converter and the noise goes away that answers my question.

I didn't do the flexplate due to not having the time to do it and also the trans needed some work when it was out. so i sent it off to the trans shop we deal with. Makes me want to go out there right now and check. Oh well. will have to wait till friday.

[Guest Recian]

flex plate is the last place people think to look for noises or problems and if youve had it replaced by someone else i'd DEFINATELY double check their work

[Guest tomt]

Was thinking abaout the sub frame as was the case in Manikmechanics car and detailed elsewhere here.

Tom T

[NCReatta]

Was thinking abaout the sub frame as was the case in Manikmechanics car and detailed elsewhere here.

Tom T

Here's the post Tom's talking about:

http://forums.aaca.org/f116/safety-issue-many-gm-v6-front-228595.html

It's a possibility. Considering the higher milage, and the area of the continent it's in.

Might check, and perhaps replace the bushings just to be save.

[Guest Gomer]

Well. It looks like it is in the engine. Removed the converter bolts and the noise is still there. would expect the flexplate to crank bolts would not make noise with no load on it. Also doesn't buzz when taped with a hammer so cracked flex plate is unlikley. Looks like im going to have to pull it apart. I will let u know what i find. Going to be a few days till i get to look further. Thanks for the help.