Your car can sometimes produce some funny and frightening noises that you sometimes wonder what their causes are. Sometimes these houses can arouse some discomforts and also worries.
Among the most common noises or sounds, you might encounter are rattling or knocking noises. Identifying these sounds and understanding the problem can be challenging, especially with the familiarness of sounds resulting from various reasons.
Some of these causes of knocking and rattling sounds can come from a rod knock or a piston slap.
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What are the most common differences between a piston slap vs. rod knock?
To distinguish the problem, you have to be keen on the noise as it accelerates. Rod knocks often go hand-in-hand with low pressure; therefore, it is undoubtedly a rod knock if you hear a rattling sound followed by low oil pressure.
It could be a piston slap if the rattling sound is not accompanied by low oil pressure. Moreover, rod nocks often get louder with the engine’s hotness. Contrary to this, piston slaps often get quieter as the engine gets hotter.
Differences between a piston slap and a rod knock
It is challenging to differentiate between a piston slap and a rod knock. Let’s dive into understanding what each is and what it means to understand the two entirely.
What is a piston slap?
Pistons in a car’s engine often snugly fit in the cylinder, implying that there will be little clearance between the cylinder walls and the pistons. This snug fit works well with pistons because they require some side-to-side movements.
Moreover, the tiny space in between prevents the air and fuel mixture from escaping. As time goes by, the cylinder wall and piston might wear out due to friction and heat.
The wear-down might create more room between the cylinder wall and the piston. Due to this, the piston will knock on the cylinder and lead to the skirt slapping on the cylinder.
Therefore results in the knocking and rattling noise. This noise is more common during an overrun or when the engine is idle when you throttle, and the engine RPM decreases.
Not all engines are susceptible to piston slap; cylinder blocks or aluminum pistons are the most susceptible ones. Aluminum tends to be lighter and a good conductor of heat, transferring heat to the coolant to keep the engine at optimum temperature. This explains why aluminum engines are most prone to engine slaps.
Piston slaps are characterized by knocking houses from the engine. Other symptoms might include reduced fuel economy and performance.
What is a rod knock?
Is the sound of knocking rods against the crankshaft as it shifts direction. The connecting rod connects to the crank, and a bearing separates the two.
During engine building, gap tolerances are left to all the bearings to surface the crank journal. The gap helps in letting in oil settle on the bearing surface.
The oil provides a barrier between the two surfaces, and this gap widens due to the wear of the bearings. The widening of the opening will imply that the oil will not be able to form a barrier, and this leads to a rod knock.
The other difference between a rod knock and a piston slap is that the sounds produced by rod knocks are heavy and in a deeper tone, like heavy metal banging together. On the other hand, piston slaps are not as deep.
Does a piston slap sound like a rod knock?
No, there is more difference between piston slap sound and that of rod knock. Rod knocks usually have a deeper tone, but that of the piston slap tends to be worse.
Considerably, when the surrounding (engine) is hot, the piston will expand, and you won’t hear it as loud, but the sound will be worse when it’s cold.
Once the engine heats up, the rod noise will increase, and you will hear it sounding like large, heavy pieces of metal hitting together. This is usually because the large end of the rod continues banging on the crank as the heat from the engine increases.
How can you tell the rod knock sound from the piston slap one?
This is how you will tell which is precisely the issue; piston slap usually occurs when the motor is cold, and it will slowly disappear as the engine heats. This happens when the cylinder experiences piston rocking.
There is no sole movement of up and down as usual when there are piston rocks, but only back and forth rocks. This piston knocking creates more room for the piston in the cylinder, and it will result in a slapping noise.
However, as the engine continues to be hotter, you will hear the slapping noise diminishing, and a rod noise will begin after a while.
Can you drive a car with a piston slap?
Yes, you can drive with a piston slap, and your engine will not be harmed; however, the sound is annoying and causes some driving discomforts.
Piston slap sounds heavier, which eventually causes a knocking noise coming from the engine, especially when idling or cold starting. If you have a piston slap, you can drive for some miles only if you don’t see signs of burning oil.
Can you drive a car with a rod knock?
Of course, you can drive your car with a rod knock, but you are under borrowed time. If your car has given you a warning through rod knocking, the rod can break anytime; therefore, you have less than six months to drive before the engine rod bearings give up completely.
Will thicker oil stop piston slap?
Don’t waste time and resources applying oil to stop the piston slap. When piston slap noise occurs, it means rings have worn out or damaged, which leads to the slapping of the piston on the cylinder. Therefore, it won’t be able to move up and down as usual.
Is piston slap normal when cold?
No, it’s not normal to hear a piston slap anytime, whether during a cold or warm moment of the engine. Once your car is experiencing a piston slap, it means the piston rings have worn out, making the piston fit tightly inside the cylinder. As a result of the piston fitting well in the cylinder, it will start slapping.
How much does it cost to fix a piston slap?
Although piston slap doesn’t raise an immediate concern at first, what may pressure you to fix such a problem is seeing other symptoms such as smoke or burned oil coming through the exhaust.
The only option you will have is rebuilding your engine, so do you know how much it will cost you to fix the piston slap? You will need to purchase rings that cost around or more than $200 and pay labor costing more than $1000.
Therefore, you will end up paying more than $1200 to fix the piston slap; however, the cost will vary depending on the car model and mechanic.
How much does it cost to fix a rod knock?
Fixing rod knock may cost you more than $2000; however, this cost will vary depending on the damage(as you may need to purchase extra parts), labor, and the car model.
Conclusion
Piston slaps and rod knocks are common noises you can expect from your car. However, when these sounds emerge, it is pretty challenging to determine the actual reason.
To differentiate the sounds, you will have to be extra keen on them as they happen. A rod knock will always increase as the engine gets hotter, while a piston slap rises when the engine is cold. Moreover, rod knocks are often accompanied by low oil pressure, and their noise is heavier.
