I did something to my car a few weekends ago. It involved spraying nitrous on platinum plugs. It was missing and I couldn't figure out why. Well, a week after I did this, it started knocking real loud and squeaking from the passanger side. I thought the motor was shot so I pulled the heads to see what kind of damage I did. I burnt 5 valves and melted one of them. The heads otherwise look real good still. Now, the problem, I drained the oil, to look for metal flakes and I found nothing. I was thinking I spun a bearing and that was causing the knocking and squeaking. But wouldn't I have found metal flakes in the oil? I turned the motor over (bare block) and it sound good, no squeaks or noise at all. Should I drop the pan, or the whole motor. Which one is easier??? I need advice bad.
Thanks,

Benji

 

When I spun a bearing in my beater this summer, I dismantled the old motor after taking it out because I, just like you, wasn't finding metal in the oil. I found all of the metal chunks held to the side of the block at various points. I would say to see if there's a metallic sheen to your oil.

 

The oil looked good. No "metal sheen" at all. Just a little burnt. Filtered through it and couldnt find anything.

Benji

 

Well, since you've already got the heads off, how difficult would it be to just take the rest of the motor out and pull the pan for a look?? That's probably going to be your best bet.

On another note, you mentioned that you had farked up some valves. That could possibly entail a lot of your knocking sound in itself.

 

I would drop the pan and take a look around. You can loosen the K member and let it drop down a bit to get the pan out.

 

That's another thing is that I'm trying to figure out if a melted or a burnt valve could cause any knocking or squeaking.

Benji