I have recently acquired a 87 camaro. It is a 305 V8 carburated. It has problems of stalling intermittently either while going in reverse initially or going from idle to accelerate. I took the vehicle to a mechanic shop to get a tune up to cover some of the basic things that could cause this problem (there are some old components in the vehicle). Anyway to make a long story short a young mechanic said he heard knocking and he thought a rod was bent and stated it sounded like metal hitting metal. I have heard it a few times but I wasn't sure what it was. I know it is not present during idle.

I read old vehicles are prone to knocking and this engine is 30 years old. It was well taken care of. I'm thinking of getting a second opinion. Any ideas on some simple things I can do to be certain of a bent rod?

 

Where did you read "old vehicles are prone to knocking"?
That's nonsense, did they do a tune up and then tell you it was knocking or just tell you before doing any work?
A bent rod isn't very likely, more like a bad rod bearing or wrist pin or even a main bearing, my bet would be a rod bearing but it could be all manner of different things and guessing from an interweb posting is a shot in the dark.
Bad lifter? broken valve spring?broken rocker arm? piston slap ? jumped timing chain? who knows without being able to see and hear the car and even then you make an educated guess and start taking things apart most time to find what is actually wrong.
Find a different shop, whomever you had looking at it doesn't sound to me like they know WTF they are doing. If that 305 is shot find yourself a nice good running used 350 to drop in if funds are tight and if you can afford it buy a new crate 350. I wouldn't waste any money rebuilding a tired or broken 305.

 

I have a error 41 during troubleshooting which indicates a defective distributor pickup coil. Could this cause a knock since it is a timing issue?

 

Went outside disconnected the battery and reconnected and then cranked for 15 seconds and 41 comes back. The vehicle will drive for miles and miles and only intermittently stall which seems weird if timing information isn't being received. It seems as it should not be making out of the parking lot.

 

Very doubtful. Everything thing in the manual says its a wiring issue.

What you might be thinking of is a spark knock and that is not going to happen at idle in a garage. That will be the most noticeable under load like going up hill and it will sound more like a valve issue not like a bottom end connecting rod issue.

305's are prone to rod stretching. The Rod cap will stretch giving the bearing a little more clearance. As the clearance is hammered larger by the knocking at some point the bearing will spin. I lost count of how many crank kits I put in back when these cars where under warranty. I am sure they have not gotten any stronger with age.

If you baby the engine it can last awhile once the knock starts, assuming its a light knock. Pull your dip stick and put the oil off the dip stick across a dark cloth. Are there sparkling metal under a magnifying glass? If so your engine is eating itself and has hours of life left. If the oil looks good the next step is to check your oil pressure with a real gage. (check Youtube for how to) I am expecting it will be low (under 20 PSI at idle warm). If it is increase the oil weight you are using. You can go as high a 20-w50. If your pressure is low and the thick oil raises it the knock may go away. Even if it goes away this engine should be babied. Let it warm up a little before driving it, keep 3500 as your max RPMs, no gunning it, and under no circumstance do you down shift or let off the throttle super fast. You never want the engine slowing the car. That is the worst thing you can do to a rod cap.

No matter what you find I would not consider the motor dependable. Once that bearing spins the motor will seize .

 

Dang I really hope I get some time out of it. I'm only driving it 50 miles a week. I hope I can somehow get it to last three years until this other car is paid off. I will check the oil today and look for metal shavings.

 

No shavings and had another mechanic listen who doesn't her knocks. I still have the alarm for the ECM not receiving distributor reference pulses and the mechanic heard some missing going on. That could be spark plugs or distributor. The distributor that I need comes with the entire rod and all. Unsure if I should just get a tune up with plugs and wires and then go to the distributor.

 

Piston slap is one that will tend to come and go based on temps. Nothing to worry about with piston slap. Might be a good idea to get the oil pressure checked or add a good oil pressure gage. Its a good way to gage the heath of an engine.

 

Can you recommend a good oil pressure gauge and how to about installing it? I'm really having a hard time thinking mine is reliable.

 

I like Sunpro gages if you are talking about an in car gage. There are a lot of others out there. It should come with instructions. Also you can search youtube for "How to install an oil pressure gage".

There are two basic designs. One has a sending unit that converts pressure to resistance a wire then connects the gage to the sending unit. The other style has a plastic tube that runs from the engine to the gage.

If you are talking about a hand held tool on then the manufacture is less important, If I have a cheap gage I can check if it accurate by using air pressure. If you do not have access to controlled air pressure you can go with a mid level gage.

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