bad day for the maro..

**pk222** · 03-05-2010, 02:16 AM

hey guys, was out bein stupid and accidentally left it in 1st off a burnout and hit the rev limiter hard.. Doesn't seem to be making any worse noises than usual but anything I can check for? Guessing from other posts I could have bent some pushrods? Doesn't seem to have any less power than usual. Could I have lucked out?
thanks pk

**camaroluvr447** · 03-05-2010, 07:16 AM

sorry to hear that. go out and pop the hood and have the engine idle, and listen closely for any ususual tap. do this standing on both sides of the car so you can hear both sides of the engine. If you dont hear a tap thats awesome. if you do its a simple repair. when I did it, I got my oem rods for 1.99 at autozone and I needed a torque wrench and a 10 mm socket and a screwdriver to do the whole job.

**pk222** · 03-05-2010, 01:42 PM

There has been a tap since I got the car but it doesn't seem to have gotten any worse. Should I leave it until it gets worse?

**c5z28** · 03-05-2010, 01:45 PM

If nothing has gotten worse don't worry about it. I have hit the limiter twice and no problems have emerged from it-just don't do it again

**jiveass** · 03-05-2010, 02:07 PM

ls1's can take the redline like a champ. as long as its not abused.

**jiveass** · 03-05-2010, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by pk222

There has been a tap since I got the car but it doesn't seem to have gotten any worse. Should I leave it until it gets worse?

is the tap there even after the car warms up? its common to have a tap at cold start. ive read that its piston slap, but havnt been told for sure.

**pk222** · 03-05-2010, 02:41 PM

its at all times. hot or cold. I was told by a shop a lifter was going and by another my timing chain so I really don't know. For all I know it could just be how ls1's sound from what I've been told the rockers make a lot of noise
It sounds like its coming from the center of the motor underneath the airbox

I don't plan on ever doing it again. It was a major accident and I feel embarassed to even say anything about it because Come on.. it was in an automatic. But I stopped and instead of putting it from over drive to drive i went way too far

**camaroluvr447** · 03-06-2010, 07:37 AM

if your engine is tapping while warmed up it means one thing. something is wrong, probably in the valve train. it was not built with a tap and it shouldnt have one. There are two things you can do since you dont know what the problem is. One, let it go till something breaks and hope it doesnt ruin the engine. Then you will know that the problem is and you can fix it. Two, take 5 hours and take off the valve covers and check each pushrod for imperfections and inspect the rockers. It all depends on how much you value your ls1. I personally worked many extra hours to be able to buy a camaro and I when I hear a tap I am not going to let a bent $2 part damage my engine. This being said a bent pushrod probably will not hurt your engine. But it could. If it breaks ( which it eventually will) It could take a few things with it. Like lifter. Or the valves. Or more. Just depends on what you want to do.

**pk222** · 03-07-2010, 02:14 AM

I value my ls1 very much. I'm 18 and its my only car.
I've been trying to wait and save up as much as possible and find out what the problem is before tearing into it so I know how far I'm getting myself in. If it were as easy as a pushrod I would be happy. But when I was quoted 1200 for doing the lifters only on one side I got a little sketchy. I want to save up around 1500 and then pull it apart myself and see what I can find. If it ends up being a lifter I know I'll have to go threw a lot and not only would it be lifters but pushrods, maybe rockers, oil pump timing chain... the list goes on. As well as if it is a lifter it could have messed up the cam which if I've gone threw that much trouble of pulling the heads I should at least throw a cam in it.

**camarodude48** · 03-07-2010, 06:55 AM

hey dude take a 12inch length of house put one end on the valve cover the other to your ear while its running and see if you can hear lifters sticking or rods jumping or hitting at all, and its not that bad to put lifters or valves or rods in these cars just time consuming.

**MrMasterCraft** · 03-07-2010, 08:44 AM

Originally Posted by camarodude48

hey dude take a 12inch length of house put one end on the valve cover the other to your ear while its running and see if you can hear lifters sticking or rods jumping or hitting at all, and its not that bad to put lifters or valves or rods in these cars just time consuming.

Don't you mean a screwdriver? Never heard of taking a 12 inch long house (maybe hose?)

2 LS1 6 speeds, both were accelerating from an on-ramp and merging onto the interstate. In both cars I was strung out in 3rd, going to 4th at WOT, and slammed it back into second

The first time I did it in the first car, the front did a nose-dive, rear end felt like it locked up, you could hear the tires screech, and it shut off... I freaked out, thought I blew it up. Slowed back down to 70 or so, started it up, gauges read fine, no lights.... got lucky

Second time I did it in the second car, the front did a nose-dive, rear end felt like it locked up, you could hear the tires screech, but it did NOT shut off. However it did stumble a bit and act a little stupid for about 10-15 seconds (kept it in neutral). It steadied out, threw it in 4th doing about 65 or so, and continued on my way (which was to the race track)

Got lucky both times. Like has been said before, sounds like your LS is ok, try to be more careful next time, and yes, they are tough

**pk222** · 03-07-2010, 01:08 PM

Ill do that and see what I can find.
It would be nice to get it done just for the piece of mind but I don't want to run the risk of ruining anything.
The biggest problem for me finding a problem is I've never heard another ls1 so I don't know what should be normal and what is not.

**jiveass** · 03-07-2010, 01:15 PM

did you hit the rev limiter? i think you will be fine....these engines can take a fair amount of abuse. as far as the tappin, get a piece of hose as stated above and see if you can track down the sound.

**MrMasterCraft** · 03-07-2010, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by pk222

Ill do that and see what I can find.
It would be nice to get it done just for the piece of mind but I don't want to run the risk of ruining anything.
The biggest problem for me finding a problem is I've never heard another ls1 so I don't know what should be normal and what is not.

Come on over, my car should be arriving on a roll-back within an hour or so, I'll show you what normal should NOT sound like

**pk222** · 03-07-2010, 03:07 PM

I didn't hear the limiter but I was so shocked that it didn't shift I wasn't paying attention.

Where are you located?

**gnomee** · 03-07-2010, 06:16 PM

The whole point of the rev limiter is to keep you from doing damage by over revving the engine so holding it to long in first and hitting it is most likely not going to damage anything.

You get bent push rods from down shifting into too low of a gear and all that stress on the instant increase in rpms bends them.

I'd say you are fine but looking into the original tap is a good idea.

I had a broken push rod once and it was no simple tap, sounded like a connecting rod was broke

**MrMasterCraft** · 03-07-2010, 06:29 PM

The "knock" described by the GF was a plug wire arcing from the coil pack... shoulda known better than to have jumped the gun and made a phone call for a new motor before the car got back here

X1000000000 for looking into the original tap

**George141** · 03-07-2010, 07:49 PM

..from what you describe..it does not sound like you bent a push rod..when that happens you will get backfire and a stedy miss in the engine..these engines are built with racing' tolerances..so it's common to hear what some describe as piston slap..just let them warm up every time..small price to pay for reliability..

**pk222** · 03-07-2010, 11:55 PM

I usually let my car run every start up for around 5 minutes and then drive easy for the first 5 minutes after that not reving over 2-2500 rpm.
I'm gonna see what I can find tomorrow with the hose/stethoscope haha but it seems like its in the timing chain or a pulley in the front of the motor.
The tap is no where near loud as a broken connecting rod sounds but it can be heard from inside and outside the car even with the hood closed.

**Frankenbitch** · 03-08-2010, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by George141

..from what you describe..it does not sound like you bent a push rod..when that happens you will get backfire and a stedy miss in the engine..these engines are built with racing' tolerances..so it's common to hear what some describe as piston slap..just let them warm up every time..small price to pay for reliability..

allways let your car warm up to 100*. There was a post about that somewhere but its unreal how much wear and tear results from startup and running the car befor warming it up...I have a little piston slap but it goes away when the car is up to temp and yes, these cars have a noisy valvetrain but its no big deal. If you want a quiet ride you bought the wrong car