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dad's truck started knocking...

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Old Dec 19, 2014 | 02:04 PM
  #1  
joshofalltrades's Avatar
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dad's truck started knocking...

dad's truck is an 90 F350 with the 7.3, and driving home from work yesterday it started knocking. i'll be going to look at it tomorrow, but wanted to post here first. so everything in this first post is what he told me its doing...

he was driving along when it suddenly started knocking, sounded like a top end knock not a rod knock, and over the course of the next 30 seconds it faded to a much quieter sound, though still definitely present. some miles later, it again had a sudden event where the knocking got loud, and again it faded to a quiet knock. also, from the time it started knocking he noticed a significant loss of horsepower.

dad's opinion is that he may have had a glow plug tip break off and being pounded between piston and head. the other thoughts i had were a bad injector, or possibly a dropped pre-chamber.

from his description, what do you guys think??

when i get into it tomorrow, i'll listen to it with a stethescope, and pull the glow plugs to see if i can find any issues there to confirm his suspicion.

i'll post back when i have firsthand info.
 
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Old Dec 19, 2014 | 02:18 PM
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Assuming they are proper glow plugs:

I'm no expert but sounds like an injector to me. I'd think if a glow tip fell into the cyl it'd be much more consistent than loud and fading and then loud and fading again.

Plus there would have to be a reason for a glow tip to drop while driving and that seems strange too.
And I have zero understanding on how a prechamber might fall into the cyl so I have no ideas there, sorry. Never been that far into one of these engines!

-Joshua
 
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Old Dec 19, 2014 | 04:35 PM
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i second bad injector. if it was anything else, it would not come and go.
 
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Old Dec 20, 2014 | 11:33 AM
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When I had an injector start sticking it was inconsistent also; your problem does sound like an injector.

I don't think it is really possible for a pre-chamber to fall into the cyl as they are held in by the block (the pre-chambers overlap the block when the head is bolted on). The only thing that could cause that to happen is if the pre-chamber fragmented and fell out in pieces.
 
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Old Dec 20, 2014 | 10:47 PM
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Sounds like an injector sticking open and dumping fuel into the cylinder when it's not suppose to.
 
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Old Dec 21, 2014 | 12:24 AM
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Well I took a look at it today and found all 8 glow plugs were Motorcraft and are in good shape. It fired up easy enough and had a noticeable drop for each injector line I loosened (one at a time) but definitely ran rough as seen by the engine shaking and the uneven exhaust sound.
Given all that, I think you guys are right and we have bad injectors. I inspected them and found factory gray paint on them all, I think that says everything about them. A new set of brand new Delphi injectors are on order.
 
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Old Dec 21, 2014 | 12:19 PM
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When you get the new injectors on, advance the pump a lil, and keep an eye on it for th first 2 weeks observing warm starts.


It happens sometimes new injectors will kill off an old pump. So if it starts having trouble starting warm after a week or 2....pump will be needed as well.
 
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Old Dec 22, 2014 | 11:48 AM
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Originally Posted by IDIDieselJohn
When you get the new injectors on, advance the pump a lil, and keep an eye on it for th first 2 weeks observing warm starts.

It happens sometimes new injectors will kill off an old pump. So if it starts having trouble starting warm after a week or 2....pump will be needed as well.
This exact thing happened to me, too. I didn't have the cash so I ran it for a long time with the hot start problem. Like a year or something.
Finally got a new IP once the old one started leaking consistently.
 
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Old Dec 22, 2014 | 12:01 PM
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you are more than likely on the right track, but I've also had valve train cause knocks when the rockers get worn out of speck.
 
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Old Mar 12, 2015 | 02:43 PM
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Anyone hear from Joshofalltrades lately?

He has been MIA to the chapter meets and used to
show up to most. Just want to make sure that he is doing well.


Sean
 
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Old Mar 12, 2015 | 02:59 PM
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his last activity was on 2-28-15 at 12:00am
 
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Old Mar 13, 2015 | 02:31 AM
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Originally Posted by tjc transport
his last activity was on 2-28-15 at 12:00am
Thanks.


Just a bit of both in me


Sean
 
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Old Nov 2, 2015 | 09:13 AM
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I'd like to thank all the posters who provided the help in this thread.
Especially _Bear_.

My '92 F-250 w 205K starting knocking and I thought it was a rod knock and the truck was finished. But after reading hear I confirmed the knock was intermittent, only under load. And it also started smoking and had a rough idle.
All consistent with an injector problem. I tried Lubri-Molly Diesel Purge in the fuel filter and tank, along with ATF fluid. And letting it sit. But it didn't improve.
I loosened each injector till I found the one that did not knock when I revved the engine. I replaced it,and between the new injector and the other 7 being squeaky clean, the truck runs like NEW!
Very little smoke and a little more power.
Thank you again IDI forum.
You saved the truck last year too with advice on why it wouldn't start when my IP failed.
 
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Old Nov 4, 2015 | 12:46 AM
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Sweet! Glad we could help! That's what FTE is all about. Keep that diesel running!
 
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