Aargh!! Possible Rod Knock

[67goat]

So at about 91k miles, I suddenly developed a ticking that shortly develop into a knock. I changed the LIM gaskets some time ago, so oil contamination should not have been the culprit. We pulled off all the belts and ran the car to eliminate extraneous noise and it seems the noise is coming from the lower half of the engine. Even with the moderate mods on the car, hard to believe a rod knock at 91k miles? I had a '95 SSEi (un-modded) that ran perfectly to 140k before I parted with it and got the '01.
Anyone else ever face this issue or problem? If it does turn out to be a rod knock, I'd want to re-do the short block better and stronger as I plan to keep the car a couple more years. Thoughts? Suggestions?

[PLAGUE PHANTOM]

My first motor went out at 66,000 miles. It most likely sounds like a rod knock. Does the knocking change speed when you rev the engine?

[67goat]

99% certain it is a rod bearing. Oil pressure fluctuates a bit and the knocking is internal. Will be dropping the entire cradle (engine & trans) to do a complete teardown and rebuild. Am really curious to find out what the culprit was that caused this. I called Intense and TT John - he said very rare for the 3800 to develop a bottom end issue unless there was an oil lubrication issue. Wondering if something foreign go trapped in the system - seemingly only affected one journal.

[crash93ssei]

I would be looking for a low mileage L32 rather then rebuilding the L67.

[00Beast]

The 04+ Grand Prix Supercharged had the Series III Supercharged engine (RPO: L32) had better rods and heads, and is a solid upgrade for not a ton of money. If you can find one (best place to look is www.car-part.com, looking for VIN 4, w/ supercharger), it's likely cheaper than rebuilding your current motor, and give you less downtime.

[WoodyBalto]

So at about 91k miles, I suddenly developed a ticking that shortly develop into a knock. I changed the LIM gaskets some time ago, so oil contamination should not have been the culprit. We pulled off all the belts and ran the car to eliminate extraneous noise and it seems the noise is coming from the lower half of the engine. Even with the moderate mods on the car, hard to believe a rod knock at 91k miles? I had a '95 SSEi (un-modded) that ran perfectly to 140k before I parted with it and got the '01.
Anyone else ever face this issue or problem? If it does turn out to be a rod knock, I'd want to re-do the short block better and stronger as I plan to keep the car a couple more years. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Sucks to hear about your troubles but this happened to me a couple years back. I threw a rod through the block. (completely stock with less than 70k miles). in my case a rod bolt broke. Upon closer inspection you could see that it had been cracked for a long time. More than likely was like that when assembled new. Just took 70k miles to fail completely.