I'm positive it's not that, and it sounds 'upper end' to me.
Pulling injector plugs never really made the sound go away, and the car had water pump and engine temp sensor issues, so I'm pretty sure it is piston slap. Anyone want to wager how many miles it'll run that way? I'm tempted to pull the head and oil pan, pull the rods, and just slap in new pistons and rings, but I'm also tempted to just swap in another motor. Again. Ugh.
I did pull the valve cover and didn't find any rockers that weren't pumped up, or anything like that. And I found out how much of a mess it makes to start a Neon with no valve cover. It's funny, this motor is SPOTLESS inside. I've run it over an hour and oil comes out crystal clear. NO sludge or color at all. I had to check and make sure it was oil, which sucks since it knocks.
