>From your description of a loud knock, it sounds like you have a bearing that's about to die. Change your oil - if you "strike gold", you'll know that the bearings are worn since the outer coating is gone and the metallic bits you'll find in the oil are the bearings themselves.
Knowing that the knock can be heard, selling the car probably won't help since any buyer who has ears and a modicum of mechanical knowledge will run away. If you want to keep the car, stop driving it ASAP - before the bearings die completely and you ventillate the block. A bottom-end rebuild shouldn't cost more than about $500 - of course you'll want to rebuild the head at the same time which will probably run you another $500. And while you're at it, you'll want to R&R the clutch and so on and so on... --- -RyAn- <[email protected]> wrote: > How do I know when the main bearing on my car is > nearing the end of its life? The car has 217,000 km's > on it (2.0 16v). The reason I ask this question is > because my old car had the same kind of sound to it > and a mechanic told me to sell the car right away > before I got stuck in major engine work. As it is > now, there is a rattling sound coming from the engine > every time I labour the engine around 2000 - 3000 > rpm's. Also, when the car is idling, every so often I > hear the rattle for a second or two (even over the > noise from the lifters!) Anyone agree that it might > be the bearing, or are there any other obvious > suggestions? ===== Matthew Yip http://www.geocities.com/mgyip/ '76 Scirocco - '81 Rabbit - The "General Li" - '88 M5 - '99 F350 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ _____________ List Sponsor: http://www.netsville.com To remove yourself from this list, send mail to [email protected] with 'unsubscribe a2_16v' in the body of your message See us on the web at http://www.a2-16v.com Visit the 16V Homepage at http://www.gti16v.org
