I noticed some ticking noise in my truck about 3 weeks ago. Really didnt worried me that much because i swared it was the timing chains being loose. Actually i was planning to work on them this weekend.

Yesterday my wife did a short trip, 15 miles with the truck without any single issue, i mean no codes, no misfiring nothing, truck was running great 15 MPG, etc. She parks, comes back to the truck tries to start it and it runs really rough for about 5 seconds, then it dies and she is not able to turn it on again.

Towed it home and i found out that i couldnt turn the crank pulley with a breaker bar no matter how hard i tried.

I took off the pasenger side valve cover and found out what is on the pictures below.

This is the first time i take off a valve cover and certainly the first time that an engine dies on me.

What am i looking at here with this damage? Do i need to get a new engine now?

 

With those parts out of the way can you turn the crank now?

 

With dropped valve head would have to come off for inspection.

 

No, still doesnt crank, actually this parts were not stuck, they were only laying on the cover

Which are the possibilities? Am i facing inminent piston damage or could it still be that im alright?

 

Piston needs to be scene to evaluate.

 

Looks like you may have jumped time causing a piston to slam into the valve...

You need to get that head to a machine shop or buy a new one.... And pray the bottom end isn't damaged. You may want to remove the timing chain cover and take a peek there too.

Or replace the motor with a quality used motor.

Thanks and good luck!

Jeremiah

 

Judging by the scoring on the cam lobe where the valve dropped; it looks like that cam roller follower seized then came apart, which caused the valve to drop. That was probably what your ticking noise was.