16hp vanguard sudden noise

[miillersickness]

Had the machine tore down for a few months replacing chains, bearings, ect, ect. Got it running great finally, put about an hour on it and all of a sudden it quit running. Turned out to be an electrical problem. It was a dead short on the starter, a wire clipped into the starter had vibrated out causing the short, easy fix. I put it back together and it starts right up and idles very smooth as usual. Within in minutes i hear a small sound that doesnt sound right, a clicking noise. I kept the engine running to try to find where it was coming from. I shut it down, took off the flywheel cover and looked around, everything was fine? Put it back together and its still clicking but starting to get worse suddenly. Within a minute or so of the machine running, the clicking became louder and louder, almost to the point i would say its knocking. Some black smoke coming out of the exhaust but not major. When i turn the flywheel its smooth until i get to one point. Its hard to describe what it feels like, almost like compression in the engine getting past that certain point, but it makes a very low noise. Any help with this is greatly greatly appreciated!!!

PS... Currently i can start the engine with the click of a key, but dont want to further any damage being that the noise is so loud and terrible.

[Nubs]

No chance a bolt er' screw fell down and is now stuck on the magnets on the flywheel?

[Nubs]

Or a magnet fell off, been known to happen

[Toys4Me]

I've had a something similar happen and it turned out to be a piece of broken starter gear that someone left in and wedged behind the flywheel.

[miillersickness]

Thanks for the replies guys, I will check all of those things tomorrow. I had another guy listen to it and asked his opinion and he thought it might be a rod knocking

[miillersickness]

Well I found the problem today. Apparently someone dropped a lock washer down the carb! It then made its way into a piston. Thankfully nothing is damaged, the top of the piston has a few scars but nothing major. Wow that was crazy

[Toys4Me]

You got lucky.

[Nubs]

Yep

[SteveReg]

ouch, need a cylinder head? break the connecting rod?

[Nubs]

And then some..

[ARGOJIM]

Yep

Was this engine turned up?

[Nubs]

bout 4,500, never used shims on stock valve springs again i tell ya

[wheeler]

Did the same thing and didn't know I dropped it down there. I had to remove the cover and get down to the magnetos. That's where it was. It didn't do any damage luckily. But what a pain trying to figure out where the noise was coming from.