Hi folks,

I'm a noob to these forums and to my new 02 f-250 SD. The truck is a high miler(150k) 5.4 litre triton with an automatic trans. I thought I'd take it for a test run up a long incline towing a 4000 lb trailer and a rattle appeared in the engine. To me it sounded like a timing rattle. The truck only does it when under heavy load and has a slight noise when under full acceleration. Any ideas? Valve lash adjustment, timing chain, or maybe both? Any help would be great and I love this site already.

I'll be back!

 

Hi, i was wondering if your rig is in need of new spark plugs, also with that kind of mileage on your rig, it may not hurt to run chevron's techron or a similar product thru your fuel system.

 

Are you sure its not just pinging? Mine has 161,000 miles and makes a little noise under heavy acceleration. Owners manual says its normal to hear a slight ping with these modular engines.

 

It sure sounds like a timing rattle. However I'm new to these computer controlled trucks and I thought the ECM would take care of the timing curves under load. That's why I thought maybe the timing chain might be stretched. Can a guy retard the timing a little on these things without screwing it up too bad? I'll be towing again this weekend so I'll bite the bullet and fill up with a better grade fuel and start there.

 

Get a can of Seafoam or some other STRONG fuel injection cleaner (like Chevron Techron) and add it to your fuel on the next fill-up, then try again. You probably just have a fuel injector that is a little clogged, causing one cylinder to go a little lean under load.

 

I used to disconnect my battery to reset to factory defaults before towing. The computer would then learn the new driving stategies. Got better mileage and performance.

 

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the feedback and I'll be sure to post the results.

 

One thing I would suggest is to crawl under the truck and look at all the exhaust heat shields. They can start to come loose and make some really nasty rattling noises that can sound like many different problems. I just ripped them all off my 99, and never had another problem.