Towed my 97 E-350 V10 home Saturday, wife said it made a horrible sound when she went to leave, she shut it off and called me. When I got there it wouldn't restart. I had to replace the battery and starter to get it to turn over, probably just a coincident.

At idle it makes the worse sound I have ever heard from a running engine. Sound like 5 guys beating garage cans with crow bars. Missing like crazy and shaking bad. Noise is in the front of the engine, no oil leaks and oil in clean. I'm afraid to let it run or try to drive it.

This is my first overhead cam engine, I have only rebuilt small block engines, Ford and Chevy. Sounds to me like the valve train is coming apart. Thinking of towing to local repair shop for diagnostics before I open it up myself. Engine is 18 years old with 143,000 miles. It has been flawless up until now.

I'm a snow bird and will be leaving for the summer so it will be parked all summer. Can't afford to pay a shop to do a major repair at this time, retired on S.S.

Any suggestion are welcome.

 

Did you remove the belt and check all of the pulleys ? any seized pulley ?

PS. It is not a good idea to let a motor vehicle sit parked most of the year and year-after -year.

 

I removed the serpentine belt before I started it to make sure it wasn't one of the accessories. I only park it for 3-4 months in the summers. I jack it up in the garage with the tires aired down, fresh oil change and remove the battery. I also fill the tank using fuel conditioner. Many snow bird do this with no problems.

 

Local repair shop drove the final nail in the coffin. When they started my van one of the rods came thru the block. Guess it's going to the junk yard.

 

I would like to keep my van but doing an engine swap at my age seem daunting!

 

I think I replied to this in the van forums?

I'm not far behind you age wise and yes swapping the entire engine seems a bit more daunting than it might be---this assumes you want to do it and there's not huge rush to complete. As we both know we're able to do a lot, just takes us longer. As they say I'm not as good as I once was but still good one time.

These swaps aren't all that easy for any age but so much of the work can be done standing up, not a lot of crawling on the ground or floor. Since the intake needs removed to fit a crane and have enough room to lift the block removing at least one front seat is very helpful.

So for us old timers its a matter of persistence---and desire more than anything else.

 

I wouldn't worry doing it myself accept doing it in my driveway. We do have an 8 bay auto restoration shop in our community but I'll have to check on restriction for use. Still weighting my options.