Strange engine "knocking" sound...PLEASE HELP

So I need help from you more engine savvy people out there.

I've had a mishimoto catch can and catless downpipe installed for about 7k miles and haven't had any issues with the car other than it smoking some during idle which is quite normal. So to fix that I did what everyone recommended as well as Adam from Tune+ and installed the UPR checkvalve and I gutted the PCV. The smoke is gone but now I have another issue...I'm hearing this "knocking" kind of sound from the engine. It sounds almost like smacking two hard wooden dowels together if I had to describe it. Heres a video of the sound so you can hear it. Is this something I could've done wrong or could this be something completely different that just coincidentally happened around the same time?

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All help will be much appreciated, thanks!

Granted, the speakers on this computer aren't the greatest but I don't hear anything that I'd consider out of the ordinary for these engines.

I couldn't hear anything either. I was going to say maybe if you had your wife/girlfriend stop the sewing machine for a bit, we could hear the engine better?

Juben said:

Granted, the speakers on this computer aren't the greatest but I don't hear anything that I'd consider out of the ordinary for these engines.

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It's the higher pitched *tap tap* sound that you can hear at the very beginning of the video. Sounds kinda like two wooden dowels smacking each other....

MonkM said:

It's the higher pitched *tap tap* sound that you can hear at the very beginning of the video. Sounds kinda like two wooden dowels smacking each other....

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I unplugged my headphones and could actually hear it better on my speakers right at the beginning. Good description, it does sound like 2 large wooden dowels being smacked together. It's not that fast, sounded like maybe twice a second or so. Have you tried localizing where you hear it the best? One thing I do is I bought a cheap stethoscope from the drug store, pulled the metal flat disk off the end of it and stuck a foot long metal rod in the end of it I got from home depot. Then I put the stethoscope in my ears and touch the rod to things to try to localize the source of the sound.

jbailer said:

I unplugged my headphones and could actually hear it better on my speakers right at the beginning. Good description, it does sound like 2 large wooden dowels being smacked together. It's not that fast, sounded like maybe twice a second or so. Have you tried localizing where you hear it the best? One thing I do is I bought a cheap stethoscope from the drug store, pulled the metal flat disk off the end of it and stuck a foot long metal rod in the end of it I got from home depot. Then I put the stethoscope in my ears and touch the rod to things to try to localize the source of the sound.

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It actually sounds like it's coming from the intake manifold area or just below it. I checked all the hoses and plugs to make sure everything was put on correctly and it all is

My first guess would be a valve.

Not exactly sure what it is, but if it just started happening, I would undo the last change I made to the car. In this case, put the pcv system back to stock and see if the sound goes away.

Nick

Check for downpipe exhaust leak.

Too me it sounds like internal engine noise. PCV has nothing to do with it

So im noticing patterns now as I pay more attention to it. The sound only starts happening if I have been driving the car for 10+ minutes. So to the store, work, gym, etc. and it will pretty much fade away when sitting idle or be very faint and hard to hear. And when I rev the car the sound will come back and will knock faster as the RPMs go up and slow back down when they go down. If I drive about 20+ minutes the sound will sound like the video in the original post and will be loud and constant.

And I have a much better idea of where the sound is coming from. In the very 1st second of the video if you pause it, the top of the engine behind the white zip tie where the metal meets with the plastic, thats about the area the sound is coming from.

Anyone know whats in that area inside the engine that could be causing this sound?

It sounds like the HPFP to me but if you hear it more in front than over the pump itself maybe it's the cam?

or a valve

Buhbuhj said:

It sounds like the HPFP to me but if you hear it more in front than over the pump itself maybe it's the cam?

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Well it's definitely not the HPFP because that's located in the back and the sound is definitely coming from the front of the engine more towards the top part. Hopefully it's not the cam....the sound is definitely near that front end of the cam :(

Is it hard to remove and replace a cam? Never done it before

Very hard to tell on the video. Sounds like it's louder when you are near the belts. Also looks like you may have an oil leak, looking at the front of the engine that could just be dirt but I had that too with mine. Have you had the dealership look at the oil separator? If you have any doubt what is causing that noise, set it back to stock and take it in before you become another statistic for everyone on here to freak out about.