Can you very that there is no diesel in exhaust?
The knocking sound and hard start makes me thing an injector is stuck open.
I don't believe ohming the injectors will tell you if it's stuck open.
The hard start would be because with the injector stuck open, it becomes harder to build rail pressure.

I don't have any exact advice....
If an injector is stuck open, the cylinder should be wet with diesel, and probably identifiable against the other cylinders. Maybe stick a swabbing device down glow plug holes look for the wet dirty one?
You have now verified the rocker arms are all working right, and the compression is great, so I'm thinking injector.

Unfortunately all the HP fuel lines are use once, so buying 1 injector and swapping it around till you find the dead one isn't an option.

If it was me, I'd be looking for a camera or swab I could stick down the glow plug holes, or maybe take off exhaust manifolds and find wet port?
My guess is a new set of injectors / lines etc would fix it.

 

The code it had, showed cylinder 3. He told me during the injector test, that shutting down #3 had the most negative effect. I'm not sure how the injector test is performed. My resistance test at home only confirms to me that it was good electrically. The injector in my mind could be stuck open and pass all the tests performed. The fuel bowl was clean, no dirt, debris. I'm supposed to meet him here in a few. The ford mechanic that did the test is going to be there as well. I'm gonna mention the possibility of the injector stuck open. I'll report back again this evening. Thanks for all the ideas so far. I feel confident with the compression test passing, that it has to be fuel or valve train related. And with rockers good, I think we need to replace that injector and see what happens.

 

I think so too.

I'd bet your money on it lol

 

Injector. Have them cycle the egr too

 

Well..... Nothing confirmed as of yet. The 2 diesel guys working on it aren't convinced on the injector. I'm not so sure either. The other evening, we pulled the injector, capped the fuel line and started the truck. Even over the sound of the air puffing out of the injector hole, you can still hear the tapping sound. They have a small tip bore scope ordered and we are gonna look at the cylinder that way first. As to not have to pull the head just yet.

I'm posting 2 videos. One is my truck and the other is one found on youtube that sounds very similar. I spoke with the guy who posted the other one. And that one ended up being a melted piston.


My truck


Other truck

Sounds similar to me. He said that one was a melted piston.

Although.... In another video of the engine torn down, he stated that there was low compression on the engine, where as mine the compresion checked good.

 

Did it fire right up, or did it take a lot of cranking skill?
Maybe it's possible you disconnected the wrong injector.
If the right injector was capped and cut off from the rail, the high pressure fuel system should build up pressure quick as normal.

Unless there are more than 1 issue going on, but I doubt it because you said it was running great till this happened.

I would be temped to run it a bit, and take a laser thermometer to the exhuast manifolds to find the bad injector.

 

I saved all injector lines I've changed. Cut them in half, weld the cut ends closed, then using a scanner that shows "FRP" (fuel rail pressure), look at frp when changing lines one at a time. When frp reads higher, you have your leaking injector.

 

Even without a scanner, the truck should start instantly instead of taking forever to build rail pressure though, right?

(When the faulty injector is isolated)

 

Just check the fuel pressure at the fuel cooler.

 

I'll look into all that's been mentioned. My video post was right after I had opened and checked the upper fuel filter. It will start much faster than in my video.

 

Drain Plug.....

<a href="http://s947.beta.photobucket.com/user/firemedicgreg/media/OilDrainPlug.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad317/firemedicgreg/OilDrainPlug.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>

Bore scope showed some scoring of the cylinder wall and the piston had imprints of the valves. Look like a new long block for me. Any suggestions? I've talked to Asheville Engines early on in my troubles. Seems like a real good guy. Didn't try to sell me an engine right from the start, gave me some other suggestions. Prices seem fair. Any one ever use or know anything about Blackwater Engine Builders?

 

Haven't heard much about Blackwater, but the little I have has been nothing but good. From what I hear, they'll build you a good, solid, virtually indestructible motor you won't find anywhere else...

 

Dang not good. I'd say something came un-together in there. I've heard Blackwater is pretty good. Sorry about the bad news. That's a bill.

 

Tell me about it!!!!! To make it even better, I got a layoff notice at the fire department last week. The wife is pregnant. Now I'm sure of needing a long block. I'm trying to part with my bass boat to help ease the pain.

Blackwater is about $700 cheaper on a standard bore engine than asheville. I need to give them a call and see about a 30 over. Compare those costs from the two as well. It looks like both companies include the upper gasket kits to finish off the install. With the exception of needing a new oil cooler and lines.

 

Were you able to determine what caused the damage?