2003 Saturn Vue - 3.0L Valve Tapping FIXED

[MarionB2BAuto]

OK everyone, my first need to go to a forum for information on a repair.

I have a 2003 Saturn Vue with the 3.0 v6; it is the same engine the Cadillac Catera has. I had it in here for a blown head gasket. Replaced the gaskets, cleaned everything, made sure the decks were flat, etc. After the repair was completed and oil was changed I started it up and everything was running great.

About 20 minuted into the warm up I started getting a rather loud and heavy valve tapping. It is coming from the rear head area. It is definitely valve related as the noise is not evident at the block, but is evident at the valve cover and head. I am not sure why it took 20 minutes to begin. I would have figured it would have been there at start up if there were a problem.

Any ideas before I pull the intake and valve cover off would be appreciated!

[MarionB2BAuto]

OK, I removed the valve cover and looked inside. It seems as if I am not getting enough oil. The area under the valve covers isn't dry, but I expeted more oil than it has. I removed a single cap on one of the camshafts and cranked the engin for about 15 seconds and see no oil coming up the passage. PLEASE if ayone has good knowledge of this engine I would appreciate any suggestions. I used compressed air to back-clear the passages and retried and still no oil. HELP!

[ricmorin]

Based on what you're saying, my first thought is this: could there be an oil port on the head gasket that is not lined up or on upside down or on the wrong side? Barring that, a passage may be plugged and not noticed when the head was off? Ugh. Not a good situation.

[MarionB2BAuto]

Ye, I am beginning to believe that as well. I am going to have to pull that cylinder head again. Thank God you can buy just the single gasket, and not the entire $250 gasket kit! I will reply here again once I find out what is going on.

[steven kiser]

Is the oil pressure within specs? I believe these are in the family of "sludge motors" and there may be an issue with during the overheat any muck loosened up and is now in the oil pan and is collecting around the oil pick up screen. I remember Fords had issues with valve guid debris collection around the screen and when shut off the crapolla would settle back to the bottom of the pan and vehicle would run fine for a time.

[MarionB2BAuto]

Unfortunately no, it's not a pick-up problem. The left (front) head is getting plenty of oil. I am pulling the head off now to look for a blockage in the oil passage for the specific head, or whatever else I can find.

[MarionB2BAuto]

Hopfully these pictures will show up for everyone. I removed the cylinder head on the supect side and inspected the piston faces and the valves. I saw absolutely no sign of contact. What I DID see is in the photos The cylinder is number 5 (right side, last hole) and what I see is what I BELIEVE is piston slap. Has ANYONE ever seen a piston slap that didn't start until after a head job was done? If you look at around halfway down the bore you will notice the difference. Also you will noticethat it is only on the "back" half of the bore, not the front. Can anyone confirm this for me?

http://s1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh5 ... AG0036.jpg
http://s1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh5 ... AG0038.jpg
http://s1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh5 ... AG0040.jpg

[steven kiser]

What's the head face look like and if it was planed how much was removed?

[MarionB2BAuto]

As mentioned, there was no signs of anything unusual. valve are fine, head surface is fine, no shaving done.

[jbadenoch]

The marks on the cylinder wall look a little high up to be piston slap. Looks more like broken ring or debris was left behind during installation

[MarionB2BAuto]

Customer has decided to not take a chance on anything and to go ahead and replace the engine. If I don't have a core charge I'm going to keep it and disassemble it. Thanks for the input everyone.

[jbadenoch]

let us know what the rings look like. after diss assy should be able to definitively identify issue

[steven kiser]

Looks like an invasion of crapolla, I've had a few in my day. I did heads on a town and country and found the lock washer i couldn't find when i fired it up.

[MarionB2BAuto]

My apologies for being so late in responding. The customer declined any further tear down to inspect the cylinder wall issue. However I did notice after a deeper inspection that the head gasket was not installed correctly. It was upside down. This meant that the oil passage from the block to the head was covered. Explained this to customer, then replaced the gaskets and bolts, and reassembled. Engine ran like a top, and totally quiet. Customer left happy as all heck! I'm thinking I was lucky and avoided a disaster!

[steven kiser]

Amen to that. Good for you seeing the issue. Sometimes i can't see the forest through the trees.