New here so sorry if this has already been posted. I have a 1988 Camaro with a 2.8 and manual Trans. yesterday while coming home I started it hear a knock. I can drive it without a knock freeway speeds and everything as long as the RPM's don't get over 3000 I am not sure what the problem is, However a friend says that the motor is blown; that I have a piston that is smacking the side of the walls. I would think this would be something that would happen all the time.

Your friend doesnt know engines very well.

Have you tried putting good gas in the car? Right now, we have crappy mid grade gas (89 octane) in the car, and it is knocking like crazy.

Also, knocking can be caused by timing, try retarding the timing a little bit, and see if the knock goes away.

Believe me, if your engine "blown" and the piston was hitting the cylinder, your car would be spitting out so much oil that you would probably burn it all up in 5 minutes.

Also you might want to check to see if your car is equiped with an anti knock sensor if it has gone bad or if the wires are broken it will cause the problems that you have mentioned.

Ok thanks for the reply. I have not drivin the Camaro until yesterday. and While I send to Shell and put in the 93oct gas. the car still sounded the same until I was getting on the freeway, I did not get on it even cause I am still trying to baby it. Then when I got off a few exits away the motor started to knock all the time. Made it too work, On my way home it knocked all the way no matter what RPM. NO Smoke Just a bad Knock even at Idle. THanks again.

Dont count out the friend just yet... depending on how bad the knock is, it could still be a rod bearing gone bad. I had an engine that would only knock at certain RPM's. When we took it apart, one of the rod journals was egg shaped .010 I bought the car in that condition, and, ask the previous owner how long he had driven the car like that. Would you believe almost a year!!! It could be nothing and then again...? my 2 cents, Kevin

tan,
You need to find a good shop and have somebody listen to the engine and let you know what type of noise it is. None of us can do anything better than a guess without hearing the engine run. 2.8's are pretty well known for getting water in the oil and killing rod bearings, so it could very well be a bearing knock. I would not drive it much without getting a real shop to listen to it. If it is a bearing knocking and you drive it much more, it can get real expensive real fast.