So Friday on my way back from work the Comet's 302 started ticking under accelleration. So I decelerate, and the engine is rattling. I pull over at the next gas station (and I'm still 20 miles from home) and pop the hood. From underneat the valve cover there's a loud, metallic clicking noise. Under accelleration it's a steady tick-tick-tick, but when decellerating it's an unsteady rattling of ticks. Great. I believe it's top-end, so I'm not hosed, but I still don't have the money for this. So the next day I set the timing on the Maverick and take it to work. On the way home I blow a tire. So I go check the spare and .. it's missing. It's in the Comet. So is my jack and four-way. So I call my girlfriend to swing by with the spare and the Focus won't start. What a friggin' day. She eventually gets one of her friends to come pick her and the tire up. Meanwhile, some mexican guy stops to see if he can help me out, and of course he can't. He gives me a soda (real nice guy) and takes off. Then some creepy old guy pulls up, and he can't help me either. Then this BIG guy pulls up. We start talking and he's nice enough -- my cell phone battery is dead and he lets me use his. Eventually this truck full of mexican dudes (landscapers) drives by and he grabs a lead pipe out of the back of his truck and swings it at them as they go by, screaming profanities at them. I shudder that off and he starts telling me a multitude of racist jokes, which are making me uncomfortable, to say the least, because I'm of Jewish descent. And my girlfriend (of Mexican descent) is on her way. To make a long(er) story short, I get home. The Maverick runs well (despite breaking two power-steering belts) and we stop to see what's wrong with the Focus. Just a battery. But the most expensive battery Autozone has. And while we were swapping out for a new battery, we find a guinea pig in the bushes outside of our apartment. Not a bad-luck issue, but strange nonetheless. And my girlfriend's cousin had a baby boy. I'm done. Steve PS: Any help with the engine noise is appreciated.
See what happens when you don't have a workingn PCV system? Seriously, sounds like a crappy weekend. If the noise sounds like it's in the top end, I would start by pulling the valve cover off.
might be a loose rocker arm...take valve covers off and see if any of the rockers are loose... sounded like a fun day
Even if I had a snappy comeback, it'd be misplaced anger. I'm just upset that I was this close to having enough money to get my valve job done, which likely would have prevented this from happening, and then *kablammy*. I'll pull off the valve cover when I get home from work, I can hear which one it's coming from under and it sounds like it's just inches away from my ear when I listen ot it, so I'm fairly sure it's right on top. I'll definitely have more questions once I see what's going on down there. Thanks guys, Steve
Hey, I almost hit a zebra today going to work... seriously, it apparently escaped from some exhibitionist farmer. lol.. not nearly as bad as your weekend... but strange nonetheless.
