Noise from timing cover area

[zuhow]

Hey there, I've been here a long time.  Somehow 21 turned into 51 in the blink of an eye.  But now I've got this project going somewhere again and I'd like some input from you guys.

 

I just started this engine up after it's rebuild- it's been sitting a long time. It fires right up, and runs great.  It's just that it seems to make more noise from the timing chain area that I'm comfortable with.  The water pump turns freely with no slop, as does the alternator.  Is this normal and I'm just paranoid? Any ideas/advice?  Should I just run it and hope for the best?  There's no sort of grinding or bad mechanical sounds- it's just uncomfortably loud.

[rossman]

Have you pulled the valve cover and checked to see if anything looks abnormal? Could the timing chain tensioner have fallen out of place? It's impossible to know without actually being there or hearing it in a quick video.

[zuhow]

I did pull the valve cover, everything is in order.  I doubt that the tensioner has fallen out of place, but maybe it's possible.

 

Do you think that air in the cooling system could be cavitating in the water pump? It does have that 'pumping marbles' sound to it.

 

It'll see if I can get a good clip of it.  So far the recordings don't seem to capture the sound well. Thanks

[rossman]

I’d be pulling the front end apart until I found the culprit. Try taking a tube like an empty paper towel core, put your ear to it and move it around the area with the engine running to see if you can isolate the location of the sound. If you shine a flashlight down into the front cover you can see if the chain tensioner is in place.

[zuhow]

I stuffed a bore scope down there and it all looks good