Hello all, first time poster, long time creeper on these forums. I'm in desperate need of a reputable diesel mechanic between Fairbanks and anchorage. In the middle of a looooong road trip and my truck developed a knock that seems to be coming from below. I've tested all injectors, even replace #5 as that where the noise seems to be loudest. Good fuel, cylinder passes compression test. I'm told by local shop that it may be a collapsed skirt and they want $5k just in labor to pull motor and "look" to see what might be going on. The other diesel shop is the dealer and they are 3 weeks out to get it on the schedule. Truck has 121k miles, is not smoking, haven't noticed and increased in oil consumption or a decrease in fuel mileage. Little to no power loss. Really need another opinion from someone more knowledgeable then me. We're in Fairbanks going to roll the dice and head south to anchorage since it's a large city we may have better luck. I'm posting on all the forums if anyone can help. I'm happy to give more info. Thank you

 

Can u post a vid?

 

Horrible video but here's the noise. Wish I did this when I had the valve covers off...

 

Heya Russ (@AlaskanEx) do you know of any diesel shops that might be able to help this guy out?

Stewart

 

I know nothing of the diesel game, but I have heard a lot of good things about Different Strokes of Alaska from my customers.

Different Strokes of Alaska - Home

 

Yeah we're going to give them a try once they open back up next week. we've heard a few good things. Thank you for the replies, were still listening.

 

Could be air in fuel, could be loose injector/s... If you have the time and curiosity getn the best of you, can pull the vc's and retorque everything down

 

I did not listen to the noise, but if you are worried about doing more damage to the motor, you might consider paying the cost of having it transported on a rollback truck to Anchorage. You might be able to hitch a ride with the tow truck driver and rent a car in Anchorage. If you have a trailer, you could pay to store it in Fairbanks.

 

That doesn't sound like any injector issue I've ever heard - unless the tip fell off and it's being scrunched at the top of the stroke. I do know that a failed injector can get very loud, but that doesn't sound like it's knocking at 1/2 RPM like a firing injector. Something is hitting on every single revolution.

 

That sounds very much like this. My brother in law had the same sound. Does it change with RPM at all? The reason I say this is you said you have no power loss. EXACTLY what he had. Just sounded like down below(oil pan/bell housing area) like you had described.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...psh9wkuuhj.jpg

 

Well we made it to Anchorage with no issues. Truck ran great aside from the noise,(which has t changed for better or worse) timmyboy76, I had covers off and re torqued everything. Nothing loose. I don't think this has anything to do with injectors/fuel unfortunately I think things are gonna be a bit more involved.... Hotrodfeguy, it does change with RPMs. We've been on the road for about 3 months, a few weeks back I got a trans error on the OD button, had codes pulled at Ford, I replace the OSS on trans and things have been good but it does have me woundering now. Thanks all for the replies I'll keep this thread updated as to what's found. Hoping to get it into the shop tomorrow but with the holiday and the start of hunting season up here it's been tricky finding a place.

 

Same as my engine on my obs, sucks man. Have them check the glow plug to see if any of the tips fell in.

 

up date,what did you find in anchorage?

 

Sorry about the delay fellas. Dropped the truck off on Tuesday and get her back Friday. Ron and the guys at Different Strokes of Alaska were great. They were slammed with the short holiday week and being really the only game in town so were amazed when they got a diagnosis by early afternoon that same day. It was about the worst case scenario, piston in #5 blew up. Bottom end of it shattered into 8 or so pieces and the piston just kind of stayed lodged in the cylinder. Which I think was a bit of luck on our side as the cylinder walls still looked great. They had the motor and failed piston pulled wednesday, parts came in late Thursday and we had the truck back by Friday at lunch. We're extremely happy with the work/level of service we received from these guys and would highly recommend them if you find yourself up $#\+ creek in Alaska.
We've been back on the road since Friday evening, 600+ miles and counting and she's running like a beast (truck camper and trailer In tow)
Speaks a bit about these motors... we first noticed the noise in Tok, Alaska then drove past Fairbanks to Tolovana, back to Fairbanks and down the Anchorage. Like a 1000 miles on a V-7. Lol. Could hardly notice any difference in power.
Thanks to everyone that chimed in and offered advice towards helping us get this fixed. Good to be back on the road and continuing our 20,000 mile journey.

 

WOW. That worked out amazingly well. Thanks for the follow up