Got it all back together yesterday and today took it for a drive and no thumps. Not to mention the issue I had with the fake oil pressure gauge. After a long hwy drive and then coming to a stop (even in sub-zero temps) the needle would goto zero more or less or flutter, well that was fixed as well. I'm guessing because all the sludge was around the area the oil pressure switch was and there was excessive heat built up and thinned the oil, or maybe the oil was just diluted, since I did a oil change as well (yeah with a Motorcraft filter for you fanatics) Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

 

OK, good feedback & to hear your cooling system sludge removal/resurrection process seems to have been a success. Keep an eye on the coolant quality for a while, to make sure you got most all of that old sludge out, so it doesn't deplete the new coolants ad pack.

That amount of sludge in the block was likely causing numerous hot spots & the knocking sound, as the coolant boiled there & who knows what it was doing to oil temp, but it wasn't likely good. Hopefully you got to it before serious damage was done.

 

well the engine needs a rebuild but it's one of those things where the truck isn't really worth it. It's got a piston slap issue where it knocks when cold (the colder the louder) and once it is warmed up it's quiet. This entire job might have cost me $150, I have plenty of stuff laying around to do it on the cheap. Engine runs strong though and used alot of oil. Maybe the new valve stem seals will help.