it's winter so i fire up the bee about once a month or two in the unheated garage. as the old 440 warmed up at idle i started noticing a knocking sound that seemed to be coming from the drivers side block (this was from inside the car). it was getting louder by the minute so i freaked and just shut it off. never blown a motor before and don't really want to. no load, cold temps, and no revving. could i have spun a rod bearing? what would you do? thanks in advance. dave

well for one thing you weren't doing the engine any favors by starting it and running it for short periods of time like that. If you periodically start these engines the vehicle should be driven and long enough for the operating temperatures to be reached and maintained long enough to evaporate all condensation out of the system. Just because the temperature gauge reads normal doesn't mean that the system is warmed up, only that the coolant has reached temp. The oil can still be relatively cool and it is no where near warm enough for proper lubrication either.

well check your torque convert bolts...if they are tight could be a rod...

pull the oil filter thats what i did aweek ago.i had same problem,oil filter had matel in it..cut it open...

Lot's of possibilities.

Spun a bearing, wiped a cam lobe, who knows.

If I need to start mine to move it in the winter, I heat the garage first, so that it get's good oil flow immediately.
Really no need to start it, unless you plan on driving it. Starting it monthly has no benefits of any kind to health of the motor

For winter storage, put it in the garage, disconnect the battery, and leave it there till spring.
Start it up in the spring, warm it up good, and change the oil.

All moot at this point. Pull the valve cover on the side you heard the noise. Check for rockers that have a bunch of play. That will tell if you wiped the cam or not.

If you do suspect a rod, you could start it, and pull the plug wires, to see which hole it is(doesn't always work, but sometimes)
Also, a rod bearing typically gets worse under load. So if you hear the knock, put it in gear, and see if gets louder.

In contrast, A main bearing get's worse with higher speeds. Rev it up unloaded. If it get's worse, it's likely(not for sure) a main bearing.

Doing these checks with an oil pressure gauge installed, is very informative also.
No pressure, likely no bearings left. Time for an overhaul.

thanks man, i'll look into all that.

Define "Warmed up at idle"

How long running? Piston slap is a longshot, I know...

My 2000 Ford 330ci with 217K on it sounds brutal each morning after starting in the winter cold after running about a minute the Piston slap becomes brutal, then disappears after 4 mins and purrs.

motor was running for about 6-7 minutes. i usually run it for about 20 mins and put it in gear and roll it around a bit so the brakes don't get stuck and the trans gets some lube. if a rod bearing spun does that mean that that rod and the crank are shot or need machining, or if i caught it in time might i be able to just replace bearings? i honestly never broke my motor before and it's my first one so . just an interesting side note about cold temps and bearing clearance, i had a set of forged kb pistons with pins in the garage (unheated), i brought them in the house to stare at them and all the pins were totally stuck in the pistons due to the metal contracting. got me worried about starting my next motor in the cold at all. how do daily drivers survive winter?

In my experience if a bearing goes out the least you can expect is to have at least one journal cut and be better off doing the complete shaft so that they are all even. In fact if I have a engine apart the shaft goes to a machine shop for checking and polishing at the least. IMO it is a given.

record it on utube so we can check it out. Listened to my 1st eng on there the other day from a guy that was having a noise prob that he wanted diagnosed and to my surprise the noise was pretty clear/defineable. I was amazed

Don't immediately go to the worse case scenerio. Not likely you spun a rod bearing or wiped a cam lobe, especially if the motor had some time on it. My first guess would be a lifter not pumping up. Starting it in the dead of winter won't hurt it. People did it all the time in the 60's and 70's ( they had winters back then too ) to go to work and didn't have major engine failures. Don't go tearing things apart until you do a little diagnosing. I'd fire it back up with a decent oil pressure guage on it and if the pressure is good ( not too high or low ), I'd let it run for a while. If it is a lifter, it will usually puimp back up in time.