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Old 03-20-2017, 04:58 PM   #1
ISM_wrx
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Unhappy engine noise, possible sign of rod knock? with video

Hi guys, I am a new subaru owner and have heard many horrific stories about the "Knocking" on the EJ motors. I have a 2012 WRX with Cobb stage 1 + sf with stage 1 map for a while, car was running fine no problem. FBKC and FKL values were always 0.0 according to Cobb AP. Just recently, I've noticed that the FBKC changed everytime i drove the car (it hit 8.6 or 6.5), and went back down to 0. even FKL also changed sometimes as well. I did a lot of research and watched/listened to all the videos i could find regarding rod knock issues, and my car does not sound as severe compared to those videos. have not been driving the car much or hard since i want to avoid the potential damage to the engine. car is over 60k miles, so no more warranty. i took the sound clip of my car. can someone with experience check it out and see if the car sound normal? or am i just scaring myself over nothing? in the video, i revved the engine up between 2500 to 3000.
thanks.

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Last edited by ISM_wrx; 03-20-2017 at 05:00 PM. Reason: ...
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Old 03-20-2017, 07:22 PM   #2
sc00ter
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Sounds completely normal to me.

Trust me, if it was truly rod knock, you'd know.

Last edited by sc00ter; 03-20-2017 at 07:27 PM.
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Old 03-20-2017, 07:32 PM   #3
ISM_wrx
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sc00ter View Post
Sounds completely normal to me.

Trust me, if it was truly rod knocking, you'd know.
what worries me is that, FBKC and FKL never changed before, and there was few times that FKL stayed on constant at -1.4 for the whole drive. planning to have the tuner look at my car soon, but before that, i just want to figure out whether there is any mechanical issue with the car going on, or i just simply need a custom tune.
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Old 03-20-2017, 07:48 PM   #4
Jersey Man10
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Sounds normal. Sounded like a high idle at first. Check your oil level by the way. Also don't base your numbers when you're parked and idling. You have to be driving. Datalog a 3rd gear pull at full throttle from like 3 -3500 rpm till redline and post it here.
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Old 03-20-2017, 07:51 PM   #5
Wrxtuner251
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ISM_wrx View Post
Hi guys, I am a new subaru owner and have heard many horrific stories about the "Knocking" on the EJ motors. I have a 2012 WRX with Cobb stage 1 + sf with stage 1 map for a while, car was running fine no problem. FBKC and FKL values were always 0.0 according to Cobb AP. Just recently, I've noticed that the FBKC changed everytime i drove the car (it hit 8.6 or 6.5), and went back down to 0. even FKL also changed sometimes as well. I did a lot of research and watched/listened to all the videos i could find regarding rod knock issues, and my car does not sound as severe compared to those videos. have not been driving the car much or hard since i want to avoid the potential damage to the engine. car is over 60k miles, so no more warranty. i took the sound clip of my car. can someone with experience check it out and see if the car sound normal? or am i just scaring myself over nothing? in the video, i revved the engine up between 2500 to 3000.
thanks.

https://youtu.be/-19wQ6jGm4I
After listening to your video your engine sounds completely normal. You test for knock when the motor is cold. Start it up and blip the throttle a few times dont go above 2,500 rpm. You will know knock when you hear it. I would continue to drive the car normally keep a good solid oil change routine and take the access port data as a grain of salt . Some knock is completely normal, what causes it varies dont loose sleep or panic over this just drive it.
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Old 03-20-2017, 07:57 PM   #6
ISM_wrx
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jersey Man10 View Post
Sounds normal. Sounded like a high idle at first. Check your oil level by the way. Also don't base your numbers when you're parked and idling. You have to be driving. Datalog a 3rd gear pull at full throttle from like 3 -3500 rpm till redline and post it here.
yea, the car was started for only few minutes, just to get the sound clip. while the car is parked, FBKC never changed though, but while driving it does. I did a few data logs, but they weren't exactly WOT, so i will do a few more in couple days when weather warms up. For now, i will just leave the car parked. oil was always changed between 2500 - 2700 miles, and i've been checking it very frequently lately for past 2 weeks.
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Old 03-20-2017, 08:02 PM   #7
Jersey Man10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ISM_wrx View Post
yea, the car was started for only few minutes, just to get the sound clip. while the car is parked, FBKC never changed though, but while driving it does. I did a few data logs, but they weren't exactly WOT, so i will do a few more in couple days when weather warms up. For now, i will just leave the car parked.
Honestly I wouldn't worry about it. You get some off numbers with the cobb tunes sometimes. It could be the gas you used last. Could be the weather. But you definitely don't have rod knock.

This is rod knock:

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Old 03-20-2017, 08:18 PM   #8
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past couple days i've been watching every vids i could find regarding the noises coming from the engine from rod knock, spun bearing, timing belt tensioner, ect. will try to take a look at the timing belt tensioner this weekend, and check to see the condition of the oil. and will try to data log and report back.
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Old 03-27-2017, 04:48 PM   #9
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update, i tried to do some data logging this Saturday. didn't want to get ticket so this is all i got.

this is WOT in 3rd gear.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...61&single=true

right after the WOT pull, at crusing speed, then this happened.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...jhgVoQ/pubhtml
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...PX6jRk/pubhtml
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Old 03-28-2017, 12:34 PM   #10
HoeLeeFuQQ
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jersey Man10 View Post
Honestly I wouldn't worry about it. You get some off numbers with the cobb tunes sometimes. It could be the gas you used last. Could be the weather. But you definitely don't have rod knock.

This is rod knock:

http://youtu.be/CFoOgdMqUoQ
sounds like knock. but I might be wrong. these engines are sensitive. I did donuts this winter on snow but I don't have the balls to do it on dry pavement. best of luck I hope everything turns out ok.
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Old 03-28-2017, 01:19 PM   #11
Gallo2011
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All I hear is typical EJ injector tick and accessory noises. Nothing resembling rod knock or anything else abnormal.

Enjoy your car.
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Old 03-28-2017, 01:58 PM   #12
ISM_wrx
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gallo2011 View Post
All I hear is typical EJ injector tick and accessory noises. Nothing resembling rod knock or anything else abnormal.

Enjoy your car.
Yea the noise from the engine does not concerned me too much, since EJ engines are typically noisy. Just that the FBKC and FKL on cobb ap values are not stable after i got the cobb dp installed. Changed back to stock dp with stage 1 map and the issue didn't go away completely.
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Old 03-28-2017, 02:11 PM   #13
20Robertwrx14
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Motor sounds fine in the video. Check around your engine bay for anything loose that could be rattling around. Specifically the heat shields around the turbo/up pipe, they tend to come loose and rattle around causing false knock. From your logs I'd guess that is the problem
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Old 03-30-2017, 02:16 PM   #14
ISM_wrx
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for the first time today when the car was idling, i heard a noise from under the engine sounded like a loose heatshield that was never there before. hopefully that was the culprit for the crazy FBKC values.
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Old 04-11-2017, 04:24 PM   #15
ISM_wrx
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an update for anyone interested: cleaned my MAF sensor and cleaned + re-oiled my air filter, and the condition improved alot. didn't see any high fbkc values above -1.4. made an appt with tuner to get the car tuned next week, hope that will eliminate the issue.
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