This is my dad's truck, he called me tonight and told me his truck had a "water in fuel" light and would not start, And that it made a "banging" noise when he tried cranking it (he's not good with engines). So long story short I'm trying to diagnose the problems over the phone from 2 hours away. I told him to check the water drain on the fuel pump which he will try in the morning. Im guessing thats giving him the CEL, but the "banging" I'm unsure of what would do that, other than dropped valves or a bent rod.

Any Ideas? Thanks

 

Low fuel pressure can cause banging like you wouldn't believe. A stuck on WIF light with rough running or a no start can also be a symptom of chaffed wires below or behind the 42 pin connector on the driver side valve cover.

 

He's gonna call me in the morning when he goes to start it so ill let him know thanks. Im thinking he should just have it towed there

 

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It ended up having something to do with one of the batteries. He took a battery out of another truck and it started up. and the CEL went away. Really strange but its running fine now.

He took the truck into ford and they replaced the battery and everything checked out. They only would replace one battery because they said the other was still good, we'll just have to wait and see if the old battery will take a ****, and it probably will.

 

Relays sometimes clatter while cranking if batteries are low, maybe that's the "banging" sound he heard? Anyway, glad to hear it was only a battery. That's a lot cheaper solution to a banging noise than a bent rod, dropped valve, or worse. BTW, probably wouldn't be a bad idea to replace that other battery.

Chris

 

I forgot to mention they replaced a relay that was bad, which im assuming caused the banging. My dad was adamant with them to replace both batteries, but they would only replace the one for free.
When he first told me it was banging i about crapped my pants because i thought it was a bend rod or dropped valve.