Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: Taxi_Driver on 05 April 2007, 21:36:29
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I now have a ticking noise when i start from cold on idle....i reckon its the exhaust manifold/gasket....but the exhaust manifold and gasket was replaced 50k miles ago.....is this normal to expect??..on an omega that it goes every 50k or so miles >:(
Today i experimented.....when the engine was cold.....tick noise there on idle....then i started to increase revs....tick got quicker as revs increased to about 2.5k revs.....then i couldnt tell as a rattle started in the 2.5k to 3k range....dunno what that was... :-/ over 3k the rattle disapears
When its nice and warmed up tick or rattle doesnt happen.....
My omega 2.2 has now done 91k miles.....if thats any help?
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Jesus TD, if I took any notice of all the strange little noises my omega makes, it would live in the garage! Can you hear these noises with the bonnet closed? If not, leave it closed ;D
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Jesus TD, if I took any notice of all the strange little noises my omega makes, it would live in the garage! Can you hear these noises with the bonnet closed? If not, leave it closed ;D
The noises i can hear are sitting in the drivers seat with the window open and bonnet closed...guess i could close the window....but thats not solving the prob!
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Does sound a little like manifold blow...
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sounds like a cracked manifold to me!!!
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'Fraid you've got all the symptoms of a broken stud .I had this last year on mine started with a light click which like yours disapeared once norm running temp. was reached. After a while it got so that it was audible continually irrespective of temp. I was told by local GM dealer that it could be run like this with no damage but I couldn't stand that bloody ticking.......
I investigated it and found that the first two studs top and bottom were sheared .I considered doing it myself but did not have a drill small enough to get between the head and the inner wing ( the garage use a 90 degree drive drill ). I also found out that one of the studs is only a couple of mm from the water jacket so the decision was made to have it done by the GM garage. They burst through ,they replace . :)
When they did it the exhaust manifold was cracked. They e mailed me a photo to ask permission to repair :o.This was done by a local agricultural engineering company as welding castings is a specialist process. They also had to take the studs out to 10mm from the puny 8mm standard item. They also fitted the later improved gasket as recommended by GM, flushed the cooling system through and topped it up with fresh antifreeze to the correct mix.
It cost me about 400 euro ( approx £300 ) which I didn't mind as it was done right with no further problems and believe me when I tell you they made me a lovely cup of tea when I was paying the bill!. I can't understand why this is such a common problem on all the ecotec engines ,it seems to always be the two studs I mention on in line and transverse engines, the garage suggested that it was a poor design of gasket originally but I wonder if there is some kind of localised high frequency vibration from the cam bearings at that point. Who knows... ::)
Anyway , I hope I'm wrong by a mile and you find a penny rattling somewhere in the engine bay.... :y
Cheers
Don
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Ooops , when I said first two studs top and bottom I meant the first on the top and the first on the bottom . Only two in total. :-[
Don
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sounds like a cracked manifold to me!!!
It does to me too.....but is it normal for it to only last 50k....or am i unkucky :-/
Think i need to pop it round to my local garage for them to take a look....but it'll be next week now....coz owner is away on sun drenched holiday....think i paid for that! ::)
Exhaust manifold are beyond me having a go :(
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sounds like a cracked manifold to me!!!
It does to me too.....but is it normal for it to only last 50k....or am i unkucky :-/
Think i need to pop it round to my local garage for them to take a look....but it'll be next week now....coz owner is away on sun drenched holiday....think i paid for that! ::)
Exhaust manifold are beyond me having a go :(
reason i said it was my mate has just had to do the job on a 48000 mile 2.2 Omega!!! and he is in Swindon !!! with his own workshop
a hell of a lot cheaper than a garage!!!
Omegatoy
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sounds like a cracked manifold to me!!!
It does to me too.....but is it normal for it to only last 50k....or am i unkucky :-/
Think i need to pop it round to my local garage for them to take a look....but it'll be next week now....coz owner is away on sun drenched holiday....think i paid for that! ::)
Exhaust manifold are beyond me having a go :(
reason i said it was my mate has just had to do the job on a 48000 mile 2.2 Omega!!! and he is in Swindon !!! with his own workshop
a hell of a lot cheaper than a garage!!!
Omegatoy
If its the same guy I bought the Senny from, can highly recommend him :y
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TD have a look to see if it is a cracked Exhaust manifold take the heat shield off
Good way to see if its blowing is get a little bit of toliet paper and slowly run it around as much of the manifold as poss and if it is blowing the paper will move.
Changing the Manifold is dead easy if i can change one anyone can, I am in no way a good mechanic and i changed it fine.
I picked mine up from a scrappy for 20 quid including the secondard air injector rail and the one way valve which was lucky as mine was knacked.
Honest TD if you have the time and you seem a more of a mechanic than i am have a bash.
On the snapped Studs side i only had one and that was from the manifold to the down pipes.
Craig
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Same ticking noise as you on my 98 CDX, been ignoring it but now starting to
sound like an old Mk 2 granada i had. Mine seems to be on drivers side & it look's
like a stud is missing at the back so booked to go in local garage next wensday,
no time to sort out myself, told my lads they can pay for it as they wont the car
when they pass there test's ;D
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Same ticking noise as you on my 98 CDX, been ignoring it but now starting to
sound like an old Mk 2 granada i had. Mine seems to be on drivers side & it look's
like a stud is missing at the back so booked to go in local garage next wensday,
no time to sort out myself, told my lads they can pay for it as they wont the car
when they pass there test's ;D
I just had to take my heads off and drill the snapped studs :(
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sounds like a cracked manifold to me!!!
It does to me too.....but is it normal for it to only last 50k....or am i unkucky :-/
Think i need to pop it round to my local garage for them to take a look....but it'll be next week now....coz owner is away on sun drenched holiday....think i paid for that! ::)
Exhaust manifold are beyond me having a go :(
reason i said it was my mate has just had to do the job on a 48000 mile 2.2 Omega!!! and he is in Swindon !!! with his own workshop
a hell of a lot cheaper than a garage!!!
Omegatoy
Mine has 46000 - better save up :(
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sounds like a cracked manifold to me!!!
It does to me too.....but is it normal for it to only last 50k....or am i unkucky :-/
Think i need to pop it round to my local garage for them to take a look....but it'll be next week now....coz owner is away on sun drenched holiday....think i paid for that! ::)
Exhaust manifold are beyond me having a go :(
reason i said it was my mate has just had to do the job on a 48000 mile 2.2 Omega!!! and he is in Swindon !!! with his own workshop
a hell of a lot cheaper than a garage!!!
Omegatoy
Ok cheers Omegatoy.....i might have to get his number from you :y
I will have a look on Sunday to see if its snapped stud/s.....tho if all studs are intact would it be safe to assume manifold is cracked and not leaking from gasket?
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sounds like a cracked manifold to me!!!
It does to me too.....but is it normal for it to only last 50k....or am i unkucky :-/
Think i need to pop it round to my local garage for them to take a look....but it'll be next week now....coz owner is away on sun drenched holiday....think i paid for that! ::)
Exhaust manifold are beyond me having a go :(
reason i said it was my mate has just had to do the job on a 48000 mile 2.2 Omega!!! and he is in Swindon !!! with his own workshop
a hell of a lot cheaper than a garage!!!
Omegatoy
Ok cheers Omegatoy.....i might have to get his number from you :y
I will have a look on Sunday to see if its snapped stud/s.....tho if all studs are intact would it be safe to assume manifold is cracked and not leaking from gasket?
no problem will speak to him tomorrow
and mention it mate, as suggested whip the heat covers off and havea look at teh manifild you will soon see it!!
Omegatoy
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Right so heatshield off.....and not really sure what im looking for.......
But cannot see any bolts sheared off......but I DO notice that I can see a slight gap on one of the nuts between the nut and manifold.....so i put a socket on it.....and its loose!! :o
It the top left one.....no1 cylinder i think.
Check all the others on the top of the manifold and they are definately tight.
Check the one below the loose one.....and thats loose as well :o
Carnt check the others underneath the manifold at the mo.....coz ive just moved the omega and the manifold is a tad warm.
I havent tightened the two loose ones up yet......coz the question is can i just tighten them up? and also what sort of tightness? i havent got my torque wrench at the mo.......so i'll just be guessing but wouldnt want to go overtightening them.
Cheers
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:'(
Thought id tighten em up a tad.....now i have discovered why they are loose!
Snapped studs :'(
So at least 2 of them :(
Omegatoy.....can your m8 drill out and retap?
Its already had some of the studs drilled out and retaped (vx dealer snapped them off when they replaced the manifold 50k miles ago) but i dont know which ones, if it makes a difference :-/
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Sorry to hear that TD , I was hoping you were OK.
Don
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Balls TD...
I had exactly the same probs on the Elite - one of the deciding factors to take the heads off, and make a proper job of the manifolds.
Access it not going to be great, to drill and tap in situ
On a plus point, being a 4 pot, it won't be any hardship to get the head off if needed
Having said that, I guess the bigger concern for you, is being without the car - as no car = no work!
If the manifold were to be removed, do you reckon there would be enough stud to extract?
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Balls TD...
I had exactly the same probs on the Elite - one of the deciding factors to take the heads off, and make a proper job of the manifolds.
Access it not going to be great, to drill and tap in situ
On a plus point, being a 4 pot, it won't be any hardship to get the head off if needed
Having said that, I guess the bigger concern for you, is being without the car - as no car = no work!
If the manifold were to be removed, do you reckon there would be enough stud to extract?
I seem to remember when the vx muppets snapped some of them last time.....the vx dealer gave me a choice.....take head off and send it away, but will take longer.....or get someone in to do the job without taking the head off, but will cost more......i went for the later option....and didnt pay either.....i used the argument then of....you broke it....you fix it!.....think the dealer claimed for the expense on the warranty.
Dont know about how much stud is left in the hole.....both of them have snapped with about 3/4 inch of thread attached to the nut.
Not really bothered about how long it takes....as my VectraC comes back to me on Monday.....so I can use that for work if i need to.
I just need to find someone local to do the job really....
Presumably its not going to do any damage if i continue to use the Omega as it is.....just ticking noise get worse i assume.
I understand that the manifold obviously expands as it gets hot.....but are the snapped studs due to overtightening in the first place?
ie did the vx muppets overtighten them when they refitted the manifold 50k miles ago?
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TD ,you'll never know . If it's the same ones as I had then you should see where the thread ends in relation to the solid unthreaded section in the middle. That will give you an indication as to what is left proud of the head face.
As to continuing driving it, I asked many many people both on line and in person about it and the concensus of opinion was that after along while you may get some erosion where the gases are passing between the two faces but even that would take a long time to create a lasting problem.
If you can live with it do it when it suits you and your business.
I'd be interested to know what you get quoted for the job ( see my post ) but whatever you do good luck.
Cheers
Don
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TD ,you'll never know . If it's the same ones as I had then you should see where the thread ends in relation to the solid unthreaded section in the middle. That will give you an indication as to what is left proud of the head face.
As to continuing driving it, I asked many many people both on line and in person about it and the concensus of opinion was that after along while you may get some erosion where the gases are passing between the two faces but even that would take a long time to create a lasting problem.
If you can live with it do it when it suits you and your business.
I'd be interested to know what you get quoted for the job ( see my post ) but whatever you do good luck.
Cheers
Don
Cheers Don.....I'll let you know how much i get stung for!
As a first port of call I'll try my local garage.....they wont be able to do the job....but i would guess they know someone who can....for when they go snapping off studs or having to repair studs that have already snapped.
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Hrm... there is not much to it, taking the head off a 4 pot
Have yourself a little project, TD.. plenty of help at the ready if you get stuck ;)
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Hrm... there is not much to it, taking the head off a 4 pot
Have yourself a little project, TD.. plenty of help at the ready if you get stuck ;)
Omegatoy has kindly pm'd me the number of his m8 in Swindon.....who could possibly do it for me....so i'll give him a ring next week....appreciate the offer James....but i know this is beyond me
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Hope it all works out for you, TD. :y
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Hrm... there is not much to it, taking the head off a 4 pot
Have yourself a little project, TD.. plenty of help at the ready if you get stuck ;)
Omegatoy has kindly pm'd me the number of his m8 in Swindon.....who could possibly do it for me....so i'll give him a ring next week....appreciate the offer James....but i know this is beyond me
Best of luck TD.