knocking sound

i have had someone tell me its a lifter and another tell me its a power stering pump?????so who do i beleave...i know when i got the car the power steering was dry added fluid and wheel still sqeeks when turned to tight but pretty sure thats normal...well any advice would be great,because im not sure what to buy at the auto store ; {..............

Noisy lifters make more of a clacking sound. A deeper sounding knock can be a rod knock, or piston slap. A bad power steering pump usually makes a sawing noise while turning the wheels. Hard to tell what you have from here.

well a Mechanic told me power stering pump because its coming from front of the motor and brothers told me lifters...it still knocks with your foot on the pedal if that helps .....any who ill figure it out or just replace it all!when all else fells.......

It could be a spun bearing, cause I had a knock in my motor to and I though it could be any of those things until I pulled the motor and tore it down and found to be a spun bearing. So thats another suggestion.

if you're not good at diagnosing the problem, you could always take the p.s. belt off and then start the car and see if the noise is still there.
 
I have done this type of thing a lot on all front acessories when the noise is a tough one to figure out

quote:

ORIGINAL: 1969 SS

if you're not good at diagnosing the problem, you could always take the p.s. belt off and then start the car and see if the noise is still there.

I have done this type of thing a lot on all front acessories when the noise is a tough one to figure out

 
cool never would have thought of that....now i just need some heat its to darn cold to be outside: (...i will check that tonight after work and let you now the verdict

sometimes it's the easiest solutions that are the hardest to figure out

well if it makes any sence i put in octan boost and it stoped????but i did take it in to the auto shop to have it looked at and diagnost here the list i got back that they found wrong..
 
upper arm bushing
outer left tie rod
intake manfold gasket leeking
needs new front rotars and brake pads
oil switch is leaking and transmision pan gasket leaking
 
over all i was pretty happy to find out it wasnt anything bad...they told me sence i put in that octain boost and the knocking stopped i probably need my engine decorbanated?? anyways the power stearing  pump is fine......but they told me my pvc system is working fine but my rings are a little worn........and to add a additive when i change my oil....

Sounds like you found a decent wrench, If you use a octane boost/injection cleaner every fill up it will help loosen up the carbon in the intake and cylinders (decarbanated). You can also run the crap out of it up to about 4500 RPMs.  The rest of the stuff sounds like all normal wear stuff. You should get those brakes and suspension items fixed. Unless you are getting puddles of oil under the car I would not worry too much about those oil leaks. If your rings are worn and the motor has a fair amount of blow by then it will push oil out the weak spots. If you fix those weak spots it could just find the next weak spot. No reason to put a bunch of money in an engine that you are going to replace/rebuild in the next 2 years or so.  
 
There are some advantages to getting the intake resealed if its not been done in a long time besides the oil leak. It tends to improve idle and it could prevent coolant from getting in your oil down the road.  

if octane booster helped its a problem with your tune.
rich/lean, too much timing. something like that.

I would do the above like gorn said. Get the carb cleaned up.. not sure if you can run carb cleaner with it on the car.... but if so that would be the way to go. Check your plugs. its kinda sounding like the motor is just dirty.

but, if you check your plugs and the electrodes are corroded then you have detonation, if they are just dirty you may want to consider rejetting your carb.

thanks guys that helps out alot..just got back from auto store had fun two guys where getting my stuff  : ) too fix all problems above and then some..ya i got everything for a tune up why i was there also ..so in the next couple of days after i get my tie rods in the work will start......as for the rings not sure what to do about thaT...i was planning on a new paint job this summer but maybe a new engine instead..dont know

oh ya another ? should i get a valley pan for when i change my gaskets tryed to get one to day and they told me it wasnt for my car i now this is opptional but i figured i would find out first if it is really nessasary

quote:

if octane booster helped its a problem with your tune.

FYI
Back in the olden days before fuel injection cars ran a lot, well, less clean. If an older car is babied a bit it will get a carbon build up in the cylinders. This buildup causes and increase in compression. This increase in compression will cause the knocking HotRod Momma is talking about. If fact is was very common back in the day for our service manager to take out certain customers cars and run the piss out of them before they even wrote a work order. You would be amazed at the list of complaints carbon buildup can cause.  In the worst cases we would pour water down the carburator. The steam would free up the build up. I do not recommend this for any one who does not know what they are doing. You could blow the cylinder head right off you car.

As for the valley pan you answered your own question

quote:

this is opptional

. If you are having a mechanic do this for you should get his opinion. I only replace them if they are factory equipt.

Never tried it myself, because I like to take stuff apart, but some people say they get good results with carbon cleanup using sea foam http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTechGas.htm . I think chrysler used to sell somthing similar. I thought I saw the sea foam for sale in auto zone..

well my bro and hubby is going to do it im just going to help out basicly hand him beer and tools......but ya hes saying to get a valley pan....went ahead and got the whole list of stuffi figureed out i payed someone to tell me whats wrong with my car so im just going to replace what they said was wrong...........

Maybe I missed it but what engine is in the car?

305

also. try pouring transmission fluid down the carb and holding the throttle at like 2,000-2,500 rpm. pour in the tranny fluid and watch the smoke come out of your car. it gets rid of all the carbon on the valve seats and pistons.  also with the knock. you may have gotten some bad gas. and the octain was not high enough so it knocked. and the booster made it the proper balance.

quote:

ORIGINAL: HOTROD MOMMA
as for the rings not sure what to do about thaT...i was planning on a new paint job this summer but maybe a new engine instead..dont know

don't worry about your rings. your engine has nothing wrong with it
 
at most, your timing is probably off a bit. as far as the carbon build-up thing goes(which is only a best guess on their part), what I like to do is, with the car running, I use a squirt bottle and spray down the carb. not enough to stall the car, but I will spray it down there until it starts to stumble, then I will let it smooth out and I will repeat the process some more until I feel good about it

WELL FOUND OUT TODAY I HAVE A NEWER 86 CHEVY TRUCK MOTOR ...LOL...FOUND OUT THREW SURPINTIN BELT NUMBERS...BUT ATLEAST ITS A  4 BOLT MAIN ....THE ONLY BAD THING ABOUT BUYING A CAR SOMEONE ELSE WAS WORKING ON IS YOUR NOT SURE WHATS GOING ON! I DONT THINK THE RING ARE WORN ...CANT I BE GETTING THE BLOW BY BECAUSE MY INTAKE GASKET IS LEAKING???? 

if your intake was leaking, that absolutely could have been contributed to some blow-by. another thing people don't notice when they have that type of problem, is that their valve cover gaskets seep and the oil leaks behind their exhaust manifolds and it blows out the exhaust
 
if you are really worried about blow-by, you can have a compression test done at each cylinder and see if the readings are all pretty equal to eachother.

THANK YOU..I HAVE NOTICED THAT I HAVE OIL ON LEFT SIDE  OF ENGINE (IN FRONT )RIGHT UNDER  WHERE THE VALVE COVER IS ....WOULD THIS MEAN I NEED NEW GASKETS FOR MY VALVE COVERS?  I DID BUY THE INTAKE MANIFOLD GASKET SET NOT SURE IF THERE IN THERE OR NOT..WAITING FOR MY BROTHER TO HAVE TIME TO HELP ME OUT WITH THAT...AND SOME WARM WEATHER : )

yes, your valve cover gaskets are probably needing to be replaced, or at least snugged down a bit. also, if you do end up replacing the intake gaskets, you are better off just throwing away the front and rear seals and using a good bead of RTV instead. those end gaskets are notorious for crushing and sliding under the intake, into the valley and causing hard to fix leaks