SOLVED: Yet another 1.7 "clattering" investigation NOW WITH VIDEO, What to look for? Options

[jrmdir]

Hello:

I'm still trying to sort numerous suspect items related to idle, mixture and hesitation in this recently acquired car but the "valve?" noise is driving me crazy while I work on various adjustments.

I've adjusted the valves at least three times and believe there is no excess clearance but it seems to have gotten louder recently so I'm going back under to check things out - and this time plan to take the rocker arms off to check for new looseness or anything weird that would throw the feeler gauge measurement off.

I've read about possible valve seat detachment - is there a way to check for this short of removing the heads?

Anything else I should look for? What are the chances of rod knock instead of valvetrain?

Notes: Mileage unknown. Car sat for 3+ years and of course the seller claimed "ran well when parked" LOL! Compression is good when warmed up, not so good in #1 and #3 when cold. No blue smoke. Hard to tell but the loudest noise seems to be #2 but that's just a guess.

Thanks!

Ron

[jrmdir]

Don't know how I missed this in my prior investigations but I recently came back from a few weeks in the d-Jet tuning maze and decided to take another look. This time I was able to get my stethoscope against the base of all of the pushrod tubes and #1 came up the winner with nocking noise of the same cadence.

In no time I had the tube and rod out and found the problem. A little bit of dent removal and the noise is gone! Who knew the clearance between rod and tube was that tight?

Anyway, thanks for the input and for the advice to not always assume the worst.

Ron