Olds Cutlass question
 

On the way home the other night, my 1997 Olds Cutlass all of a sudden got much, much louder. All of a sudden the engine sounded loud and bad, like there was something slapping or hitting with every revolution. The sound increased with engine speed. I was halfway home, and managed to drive the car all the way home (it was about 1AM).

Now, I know that these cars (Cutlass, Malibu, Grand Am) are notorious for water pump failure. I was told by a mechanic that a failing water pump can make the sounds described, and it would make sense that I was able to drive the rest of the way home on a cool night without overheating.

When I check the FAQ in the Cutlass Hayne's manual, however, the symptoms described point to a cranshaft or connecting rod/bearing problem. My question(s) are this, then:

Would an internal engine problem (connecting rod, crankshaft) appear all of a sudden, as in the engine's sound behavior changed in a matter of one second?

Would I be able to drive the car home about 8 miles without incident if it were an internal engine problem?

Would a failing water pump on these cars really be THAT loud?

If anyone could chime in, I would be most appreciative. SmileWavy

4 cyl or 6? Was it the sound of something banging/clanking/thudding metal on metal, or was it more of a scrappy noise. Did you notice anything else besides the noise? Did the power or power delivery change?

Usually by the time the waterpump is scraping or banging, you've lost all of your antifreeze. Any leaking?

Pretty much any type of engine problem can happen suddenly, but it seems less likely that a crank or rod bearing would go that quickly.

Is there oil in the car? Drain the oil, is it weird, nasty, full of metal filings? Is the pulley on the front of the waterpump loose or wobbly?

Could it be an exhaust problem?

3.8L V6 right.

Probably the same engine as in my car. I would suggest pulling the serpentine belt and rotate the water pump pulley by hand. See how much play there is. It should have gotten hot if the pump went out though.

Drain the oil and check closely for metal. It could be that you spun a bearing or chipped a piston. Not hard to fix but take a lot of time.

3.1 V6.

I don't know if the power delivery changed, because once the sound started I brought the car down to about 30mph and didn't accellerate very quickly, because as the revs increase the sound gets hellishly loud (or seems louder because of the increase in revs). It is definitely coming from the engine bay (not the exhaust), and does not sound like an exhaust leak.

It doesn't sound like a metal-on-metal sound. It sounds like a loud slapping. At first I thought a belt had come loose or something, but when I checked everything was tight and secure.

There is no coolant leakage, but the GM mechanic told me that this wouldn't NECESSARILY happen (although it would be the common occurance).

Oil is at the correct amount. I might just have my GF's father (the mechanic in question) swing by and tell me what he thinks...

Two things come to mind besides the W/P:

Could it be something to do with the tensioner for the serp. belt; bearing or such? Not sure if that's a common GM thing.

Cracked flex plate; a somewhat common GM problem.

What do U expect from GM....

Shot in the dark...

Harmonic Balancer?

It sounds like the serp. belt has come partway apart with the rotation (not across the belt) and is "slapping" against one of the pulleys.

We have a 97 also, and ours did the same thing after I changed the Lower Intake gaskets ( have you changed yours yet? Keep an eye on them). Scared the crap out of me. Couldn't see it with the belt on, but was very apparent with the belt off.

Changed the belt, and the problem went away. It twisted the cam in half three weeks later though.:mad:

thanks for the info guys. I have tomorrow night off, so I think i will get in there with a screwdriver stethoscope and really poke around.

The more I listened to it, the more the sound seemed like an exhaust leak or something having to do with exhaust... plus I could swear I heard air puffing out somewhere...

...well I was right about the air. After I got the car up on jacks, I noticed that there seemed to be air puffing out from the back of the motor. Sure enough, a spark plug and wire had come completely loose, and both were just hanging behind the engine. Since three of the plugs are well behind the engine, I did not see this the first time I checked things out.

Screwed in the plug, popped the cap on, and we are good as new.

Thanks again for your imput guys, but the solution turned out to be surprisingly simple...

Good ole GM. May not run well, but it does run. :D

P.S. Glad to hear it was not expensive or time consuming.

Seeing as how they can be found at the top of JD Power quality reports, one could expect quite a bit actually...

http://www.jdpower.com/news/releases/pressrelease.asp?ID=2005069