one little question/problem. the civic i just bought hadnt been run or used in about a year or 2. so it has old gas in it. when i finally got it running at first it ran good and accelerated fine but after a day or 2 of like 20 mins of running it started bogging and when i would go to drive it it would stall. well tonight i went to start it and it was running for a few mins when i decided to pop the hood and check some stuff and when i did i heard a slight pinging/knocking that sounded like it was coming from the block and not the head. its pretty quiet and goes away when i rev the motor. it doesnt get louder or anything like rod knocks ive heard in the past( had a bad rod bearing in my trans am and my buddys suzuki katana and from my experience the sound gets louder when engine is revved. my question is could the fact that the gas is about a year or 2 old and that the engine didnt knock until it started running crappy be the cause of this slight knock??

 

Stale gas typically makes the engine hard to start (but runs normally once started) and / or knocking under load. You are probably just hearing valve noise, some of which is normal especially when the engine is cold.

 

the noise im hearing sounds like its coming from the block area not the head. i was reading that low octane levels will cause a knock. wouldnt gas that has sat for over a year have low octane levels?

 

mine is almost like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubFSLCVKjiE

 

My experience with stale gas was that the Civic would be very hard to start, but after that it would go OK. Likely there is something else wrong. If you had gas with very low octane it would not stall when trying to drive, but it would knock very badly and possibly suffer damage due to that.

You should do some basic tests like pull ECU codes, check for dead cylinders (disconnect fuel injectors one at a time, not the spark plugs), inspect spark plugs for wear / fouling / deposits, and compression check.

 

im going to do a full oil change, run some zmax and fuel system cleaner with fresh gas and see what happens. i have kind of a dumb question if its a rod bearing is there any way to change the bearings with the motor still in the car? i dont want to have to pull it just to do some rod bearings. if i have to pull it im going to rebuild the whole thing which means the car is being put away and im going to find a beater lol

 

Bad rod bearings make a lot more noise when you rev up or try to drive, so it doesn't sound like you have that. Replacing the gas is not a bad idea, to do it best drive the back of the car up on ramps and completely drain the gas tank using the drain plug. Also you can remove the fuel injectors and clean them much better than magic in the tank will.

 

thats exactly what i was thinking. my trans am sounded alot worse when my bearings were bad. its just a slight knock and the car has been run on royal purple oil for the 5 years the PO owned it so i dont think the bearing went bad lol. im going to drain the fuel tank and stuff and see what happens. if it comes to it ill pull the engine and rebuild it with this kit http://www.rpmmachine.com/shop/index...t_detail&p=407

 

heres my noise(camera is like inches away from engine block) http://gs350.photobucket.com/groups/...t=SD533833.mp4
EDIT: for some reason i see alot of this noise on youtube with this engine. is it like a common thing? lol
NEW EDIT 12/5/10: ok im not sure if its because the car warmed up or if its because of the bar's leaks engine repair/stp fuel system cleaner combo i put in but heres what it sounds like now. tell me if it sounds healthy??
BEFORE:http://gs350.photobucket.com/groups/...t=SD533833.mp4
AFTER:http://gs350.photobucket.com/groups/...t=SD533834.mp4