I have a '97 E350 with a v10. It gas 225K miles on it. It has served me well with only a couple of trips to the shop for plugs and a couple of minor things. Other than that and I'll/filter, one set of shocks all around, brakes, a couple of disc brake hubs, it's been a very reliable vehicle.

It is no longer the kid hauler as they are older and some are out of the house so the miles are not piling up as they once did. It does get driven every 2 - 3 weeks and fluids changed on a regular basis.

A week ago I used it to push my daughter's camera into the garage for some repair work. It is a gentle incline - could almost do it by hand but just easier to nudge it in with the big van. It started and ran fine. No out of the ordinary sounds.

The next morning I started it up and immediately I heard this horrendous racket from the engine. At first I thought something was caught in the fan blades as it was coming from near the front and varied in speed with the engine. On further inspection it was coming from the passenger side bank. I popped off the doghouse last night to see if I could get a better read on where it was coming from. Definitely the passenger side.

I did some searching on the knocking sound and came up with the following:
PCV oil deflector plate rear end of the passenger side valve cover
Piston Con rod / bearing going

Other thoughts?


I did pop the pcv alive and got a couple of shots down into the hole and it looks like the plate is still in place.

The strange thing is that the noise come suddenly - as if something broke on startup that following morning.

The engine runs fine with no missing or codes being thrown. Since the noise came I have not driven it other than to pull it into the shop where it is sitting.

One other note- this engine is also afflicted with breaking exhaust manifold bolts. I had known about 50K miles ago there were a couple missing. There was really no difference in the noise level so I just kept driving it. I noticed this week that on the passenger bank there is only one left on the top section of the exhaust manifold. I didn't get to check on the bottom side.

Back to the noise - it started all at once, virtually overnight - hard knocking that varies with engine rpm but does not get louder or softer with varying engine speed. It is in the pass bank - possibly toward the rear.

Any help or next steps are appreciated!

 

A high quality video with sound would help.

Are you sure it isn't an ejected spark plug?

Is the oil level full?

 

I took a high quality video - will upload tomorrow. There are no blown plugs. The oil level is ok.

Would it be accurate to assume that a con rod bearing failure would be more gradual than appearing "overnight? There were no previous sounds




The

 

Not necessarily.
I haven't heard it yet but
It could be a water pump knock or something else.

 

A video of the van can be found here:


- no blown plug, knocking rises and falls with engine speed, doesn't get louder or softer with speed, seems to be coming with pass. bank, rear.

 

Make sure the manifold isn't leaking. Then I recommend you unplug coils or injectors one at a time and see if it changes the noise. This should help you pinpoint the noise.

 

That doesn't sound like a spun bearing. If it isn't either exhaust leak or pulley noise then I would suspect cam issues. A spun bearing has a deeper clunk and is usually accompanied by a rasping grind.
For an exhaust leak, you can hold your hand next to the manifold when the engine is cold and feel the exhaust pulsing out. If that is the issue, the puff of exhaust you feel will be synchronized with the sound you hear.

 

Maybe the starter isn't​ retracting all the way and hitting the flexplate?

 

rocker arm/ valvetrain

 

Sounds like a cracked flex plate, with the "ticking" sound.

Pull the inspection plate and check that the flex plate is not cracked, and the bolts to the torque converter are tight.

 

yeah, it could be. The way it "just happened" could mean it broke when he started it