I was down at Costco the other day and there it was - a pallet of Delo. I've been mulling ever since I saw that.

 

If I understand this comment correctly, you, after all the injector hold down issues you've had, moved injectors around to diagnose cackle. On a 7.3. You need help. Real help. We're all here for you, but we are not professionals.

Not to pile on, but I'd change the oil before adding something to it, particularly as often as you have to change it, anyway. FWIW, my truck, with stock injectors, idles louder as the oil gets older, and I think it always idles more quietly when cold. 5-7K is a year of driving for me, so I change the T6 annually, and let Blackstone tell me I'm throwing out good oil.

Mark

 

I think Pfizer makes a little white pill that will help him with the obsessive/compulsive disorder....

 

During my one last VC pop - it was full-on experiment time. I knew I didn't want to go back in there and I had a suspect stick, so all work was done in one hit. Of course... that doesn't mean I don't need professional help.

Bear in mind, the first sign of a loose stick is cackle... then it proceeds to jumpy throttle, then a miss and gawd-awful clacking. There are stages to the loose stick thing, and blowing a cup because of it would make anybody monkey-brained.

 

I only run delo. I am also hard of hearing from years of working on detroits but I do not notice a cackle. I have stock everything so prob I just do not hear it. I have noticed that if it ever goes much past 5k or I towed a lot , the fuel mileage drops terribly which i have always attributed to foaming. Changing the oil makes it come right back.

 

Dont discount it being just single shot cackle as well Rich....

Like said above, give it a rest man and just drive her! Change the oil, and drive the **** outta it.

 

I've ruled nothing out... but there's noise in there that is way beyond normal when it warms up.

 

I would agree with Palmer.

Shaeffers 7000 15w-40 would be a good choice for any diesel should you decide to go in a different direction oil wise.

The only oil additive I use these days is the HotShots product. Mostly in the 6.0 and it has served me well in the 7.3 too.

On the fuel side of the equation, as stated in a previous post, watercraft ( ash-less ) two stroke oil will quiet the injectors and provide good lubrication. About an ounce per gallon. Redline or one of the other synthetics will run cleaner.

 

I agree. Turning up the radio helps as well.

Without being able to hear it for myself it's hard to comment, but my gut feeling is that your noise might not be all that abnormal. My daily driver makes a pretty loud and noticeable cackle, borderline knocking noise from time to time and I've grown accustomed to it. I don't really like it but it's been that way for a couple hundred thousand miles now and the engine still runs well. Oil samples report a fairly healthy engine.

I don't hear the noise on all trucks...just mine and maybe one or two others in our fleet. I know of two other folks who reported a similar noise and they both changed their engines. One was on this forum and I don't remember if he ever got around to tearing down his engine to find out for sure if something was wrong or not. The other was a local guy who replaced his engine with a running donor from a salvage yard. I know the guy who purchased the original offending engine and last I heard it was still running strong some 120k miles later.

When folks ask me about weird 7.3 noises I usually give the following advice. If the noise is only at idle and goes away while driving or when rpms are increased then don't worry about it and just drive the truck. If the noise increases with RPM and/or occurs while driving then investigate further.

From time to time these things make uncomfortable noises. Just drive the truck and sample the oil from time to time and try not to worry too much about it.

 

Executive Decision:

I got Stinky back from the "experts" I handed him over to for evaluation. They all agree he gets loud when he's warm, and it's loudest on the passenger side... but many trucks do this. It's the price we pay for having older technology (trade-off for good reliability). I'm going to follow Palmer's advice and just get over it. I did my due diligence, got plenty of input from the forum, and had seasoned mechanics listen to my Stinky (insert snickers here). I can't take it any further with a wrench, but I can try some additives/different oil here and there.

The noise is definitely louder under load. I was climbing a steep grade at 45 MPH on a hot day with the A/C and AE rolling (empty), and the cackle just cranked up over the course of about 10 seconds and gave me pause. The cackle ebbed slowly after the grade and EOT cooled down on a flat stretch at 65 MPH. Stinky is nice and quiet when cool - I just wish he always sounded like that. Snot-bubble machine is now clicked off.

Thanks guys!

 

Rich, did you read 99.5-2000 HICP reading in your last post? It kind of talks about what you are seeing & anti foaming agents. Its close to the bottom.

 

Rich, without actually seeing your tuning I cant tell you for sure, but I've been dealing with a very similar thing. I've noticed that whenever my oil heats up above 190-195 range, the engine gets a little less responsive and a little noisier. Still havent nailed it down completely, but noticed that changes in the timing adder table has effected it.

Basically I think the reason that some trucks get it and some trucks dont is the age of these trucks, and the different oil. Mine for example is like clockwork. sounds great all the way up to 180, starts getting a little louder above that but not bad at all, then at 195 it sounds like an OBS needing an oil change. Not a huge issue in my book. I will say it was WAAAAYYY worse when I was running rotella t6. Now that I've switched to shaefers, it seems to have calmed it down a bit. My guess (and notice that I am saying guess because I honestly do not know) is that as the oil heats and thins out, it becomes more prone to aeration. The cackle is aeration related. I believe this is why there is timing adjustments for oil temp going all the way up to ridiculous temps you would never see with a healthy engine. Thinner oil reacts differently to pressure, and therefor can advance timing when it gets hot and thins out. That would be why in the stock tables the PCM builds in more of a delay (offset) in timing to attempt to account for the oil qualities at those temps. I'm sure there is a lot of math involved that could provide a complete answer, but in order to figure that out you would have to know the exact temp of the oil as it is ran though the injectors, and that is something that we are just not equipped to know.

That being said, you know of the issue, you know what temp it happens at, and you know that it stays consistent throughout the RPM range. To me that would mean that you can keep an eye on it, and if it changes that it requires more investigation. I know with mine, it has been doing this consistently since I can remember, so that means (in my eyes and mind) that it is "normal" for my truck. HUEI injection is going to have its little quirks in sounds simply because you are involving so many variables. I'm sure if you could read timing when it does this you could find out if its tuning or something else, but unless you have access to an emulator, that isnt going to happen. Speaking of which, I may have access to one in september, so if you are still concerned about it, get a hold of me then and we'll see if we can get it hooked up to your truck and find out. For now, have your tuner try raising your offset above 195 degrees (if that is where it is occurring). .02-.03 MS should be enough to give you an answer of if that is where the problem is.

 

The contributions here have been fantastic! We're not tackling "Won't start" stuff... we're chasing after nuances. Little things that most would never notice, but we notice them... and solutions found here would make the Powerstroke experience that much sweeter.

I've read everything here and I'm less concerned, now that I now know I wasn't imagining things... but my loose-stick adventures made my reactions nuclear. It feels good to have earth between my toes again.

I'll be tinkering with chemical and tuning solutions to the noise factor.

 

Rich,

For you to peruse:

Interesting Oil Temp finding... - PowerStrokeArmy

 

What weight is T6?

Maybe try just strait 15-40 rotella. Heat thins oil.

We also used to run diesel motor honey in our 6.9 and that thing ran as quiet as a gas engine.