4age 16V Bigport rattle

[Insighttech]

First off I apoligise for being dence. I have a NZ AE92 Gti. Only had the car for three weeks. When I first got the car it sounded like it needed a valve clearance. Now it's got a rattle When I go more then 2.5K revs or in between gear changes it sounds like one of the pistons is rattling? Motor is super clean on the outside, so is the oil, has oil pressure according to the gauge, doesn't smoke, use oil or water, no water in oil or vice versa. Doesn't overheat. I've had numerous 4AGE powered cars before and never had a problem before. So just wondering if it could be repaired or throw it in the bin. Thanks for your time.

[Trls250s]

If its got a rattle i see no reason to throw it in the bin. I think you should just thrash it more haha.

Rattle could be TVIS butterflys as 2.5k is when they come on, and under deceleration they close and choke the intakes (which is why they do it between shifting).

Is the rattle comming from the head, intake or block?

[Insighttech]

Not sure if they know what they are taking about? I will have a look at it tomorrow, see if I can identify where it is coming from. Before it was doing this it also had a weird noise like it had a hole in the exhaust. Thanks for you help

[l1ttle_d3vil]

Rattle could be TVIS butterflys as 2.5k is when they come on

They come on at 4500 - 4700rpm.

[matt dunn]

Rattle could be TVIS butterflys as 2.5k is when they come on

They come on at 4500 - 4700rpm.

Yeah, I was going to say,

If they switch at 2500 there is something wrong, 4500ish is where they switch,

[Insighttech]

He said it sounded like a piston had collapsed and said I should it sell it. He said it was a big end it would be a waste of tome to replace the shells and the primary reason why the copperlead bearings collapse is beacuse of the crack and it very best it would need to be grinded or worst replaced and if I got a 2nd hand motor it would be just as stuffed.

[Truenotch]

Thats a pretty pessimistic way of looking at it! Who has been giving you this information?

Take it to a good mechanic and ask for a quote to repair the engine, or replace it with a 2nd hand unit (with 3 month warranty from a wrecker). Most of the time 2nd hand 4age's are fine.


How many K's has the car done?

[Insighttech]

That was my dad who worked at Toyota for years. 250K on the dash. My Corolla gt has done 320K on the original motor and you can't hardly hear the thing run. K's don't mean alot. Depends how hard of a life the car has had. Thanks

[Truenotch]

That was my dad who worked at Toyota for years. 250K on the dash. My Corolla gt has done 320K on the original motor and you can't hardly hear the thing run. K's don't mean alot. Depends how hard of a life the car has had. Thanks

Yes sure, a lot of the time K's don't mean a lot, and some 180,000km engines will be in better condition then some that have done 50,000. But it's an important reference when you are asking someone (who has never seen or heard you car) about a mysterious rattle.


Just get another 4AGE and throw it in there. They aren't very expensive.

[l1ttle_d3vil]

if it still runs fine I wouldn't worry too much about it. when I pulled the sump off my last engine there were bits of the pistons and rings in there, engine still went fine though apart from smoke

[2LTR Rona]

Bluetop in my KE has a rattle, not many Km's since its been rebuilt, my rattle sounds like its coming from the head which apn inspection finds that it has a Kelford grind CAM on the intake (along with what we think are 3SGE buckets & shims) & stock on the exhaust side.

My plan off attack, leave it as it is till it dies then throw another bluetop in there or something else. Bluetops are cheap enough and readily available enough whenever you want.

Personally with yours I'd drive it till it dies then worry about it

[CAMB01]

Out of curiousty is it a red GTi?
And did you buy it from wainuiomata?

[Insighttech]

Do you know the car or last owner?

[CAMB01]

Yeah.
If its that one it did have an oil pressure issue a while ago, but nothing was ever done about it. They knew it had a rattle.

[Insighttech]

Yeah it said it had been like it since he had it. Seemed like a nice guy maybe he was full of shit? I checked it to day as I got bored and it has done a bigend bearing, can't be asked fixing it. So i'm to stick it on Trademe. I could keep on driving it but it will most likely do a rod. Thanks for the info.

[Cakky]

drive it faster so you can't hear it

[Insighttech]

as I did up a couple of 5 door GT's. Munters got their hands on them and ended up stuffed. one stacked on the front and one in the back. Wondering roughly how much I will be looking at for a replacement motor and labour to install.

[crispy'86]

That'd really depend on where you get the engine, how much they want for it pricewise. Then labour will depend on who does it, having to swap stuff over. Labour wise, could be anywhere from 4-7 hours depending who does it, what needs replacing. There's alot of stuff people don't tend to think about when it comes to this e.g oil seals, cambelt that have been inspected and found they need replacing.

[rollaholic]

im sure you could find some toyspeeders in the wellington area who might help you out on a cash job for the engine swap!

i certainly wouldnt pay more than $600 for a complete bigport, and it would need to be a minter for that price

but you know what they say, break it then upgrade it...

[CAMB01]

I'm not keen on doing 2nd hand engine swaps, but i can rebuild it for you if you want.
PM me if you want to discuss more.