Has anyone thrown out the idea of a bad hydraulic lifter?

Discuss ......

 

I believe the key reason anybody would want to read my stuff is because I share what I learn. If I advise somebody, I don't just tell them "Just drive it, they make noise". That's calling on them to just trust I know what I'm doing - and I wouldn't want to ask that of anybody. I instead share the "why" of what I've learned - complete with detailed descriptions, pictures, links, and/or videos. A recent example is where a member wanted to know if his truck sounded rough. I inserted a video of Stinky having a bad day in my reply, to demonstrate the difference between ordinary cackle and a real problem.


This may be an opportunity for everybody to learn sources of vibration/shakes in our trucks... or not. The readers are here to group-learn right along with me, and a lot of fantastic ideas have been floated - not just for Stinky, but for everybody following this. This is not a pity party, it's a class room - and you're shooting spit wads.

 

I asked about the close proximity of the fuel line to the downpipe in another thread, but that was resoundingly shot down. I noticed #5 and #3 have at least had a history of cooking things off... or all the other cylinders are cold.





It has been mentioned, and it's one of my theories right now. If that's the case, it's something I'd have to live with until I replace the motor. I can't see popping the heads to fix one intermittent lifter, and a head rebuild may cause more problems than they solve - on an engine with 300K miles.


Here's what gets me: I've had bad rocker arms on a gasser, and the miss is felt forward and backward. Whatever this is, I feel it side-to-side - and power or decel does not give me any front-to-back pulsing.


With a lot more tests, I have concluded I have multiple issues at the same time. If I hadn't just spent $5000 this summer on replacing/rebuilding everything that spins under the truck, I could let "age/mile" vibrations go. As it stands, I now find them unacceptable - nothing under the truck is old or has a lot of miles. I will put the truck on a lift and find the vibrations that are confusing the troubleshooting of the engine.

 

I have been reading all of these as you right them. Either way its all interesting for me in learning what happens.

Regarding the statement I quoted I wonder if the vibration was there all along and once you rebuilt everything around the engine it is more noticeable? I do remember you mentioning temperatures changing the symptoms and also the RPM's associated.

 

IMO, this forum is like a newspaper. (I even paid an annual subscription to be a supporter.) Tugly writes one of the more regular columns on topics which are generally popular to me and likely many others in the 7.3L crowd.


(Between you and me, Tugly is obviously a fanatic. He probably also has OCD. Those are the types who discover and create new things which could help all us 7.3L owners. And it costs us nothing but a little respect and encouragement to keep him going.)


Write on Brother!
Write on!

 

Lmao .. I would say OCD is a big factor.. But you are absolutely right.

 

What he said. I've learned a great deal from so many people here, just be reading.. And I've had several issues recently successfully trouble shot for the fix from threads I started, by the gracious and helpful nature of so many members.

A high compliment, I recently had someone figure out their own problem after a problem from an issue I had, and then posted the fix. So, I finally gave back! It took a while and I'm still way in the hole as I've taken much more than I've given...

 

Yup... OCD. Use the OCD to my advantage on the job, and people pay money for that sort of thing. Weird.


I'm not the only, first, or last one in the OCD club here - and we all benefit from those that have it. How about that ultimate 7.3L PDF? Was that a Herculean effort or what?

 

I'm OCD at its finest! You should see my tool box and the wiring for my 650 dash kit. Took me 6 solid days and it shows!

 

Rich, When does this happen the most? After a long drive to work? After a short drive? Before A trip? Or just starting a trip? Under acceleration? Rolling to a stop? After stop and go traffic? Idling in the driveway? Any driving out of the ordinary? And tell my any more information if you can These are the questions I have to ask the operators to try to troubleshoot vehicle problems for my municipality. I have been racking my brain to think of what would be intermittent to cause the problem, and not coming up with much. Sorry.

 

There we go. That's what I'm looking for. I posted a thread to get help with finding the source of a problem with Stinky, the SD PS being the topic of conversation here - and this turned into a Tugly show. While readers may or may not get a chuckle from the ribbing, there are those with vibration problems that are long gone - finding no help here.


I have been paying very close attention to everything I feel, and I have isolated 3 sets of problems:

1. I have one cylinder misbehaving, and I think I've isolated it to #2. I was running with AE up and monitoring PERDELs. There's nothing to see once I'm rolling or on the throttle, but a stop at intersections give me a number. Symptom 1 showed up - the odd noise and something akin to a miss, but not as powerful. This is the symptom that drops the right EGT gauge about 25 degrees. If I get on it, I feel no "miss" per se, and no symptoms of anything being odd. I just slowed from 65 MPH to turn left and hung there for a second to get the PERDEL reading. I could feel something like a partial-miss, #2 PERDEL was elevated, and the driver-side EGTs were 50 degrees higher than the passenger side. I'm going to say that's a nozzle issue (poor atomization) or stuck valve - and it's RAISING the driver-side EGTs, not dropping the passenger side. I have the ninth stick at the ready for that one.
2. There is a growl I can feel in my feet and the wheel, but not my butt or back. It's always there (in gear or neutral - speed related), but it sometimes gets stronger or weaker - with weaker sometime being hardly perceptible. With the frequency of the growl, I'm going to say that one is crank speed or driveline speed. It feels like a bad bearing, but all my spinning bearings are new. I get a little confusion with #2 and #3 symptom, but 42 MPH on up is where these problems live, and 62 MPH hits the sweet spot where it's amplified by the truck.
3. There is a front-end oscillation that I can feel in the wheel (tire speed). This one, combined with the #1 problem gave me the impression the engine was shaking the truck. The oscillation is not there at first, it takes about 10 miles of driving before what ever the cause is "warms up". The wheel will shake a little bit, but my feet don't pick it up. After about 30-35 miles, the intensity is high enough for my feet to pick it up, and it's very annoying. Uphill, downhill, neutral, cruise, power - it's there.

I have jumped out of the truck countless times, IR thermometer in hand, to get immediate readings on everything that spins. The brakes look great and even, the transfer case is the same temp as the transmission (about 70-80 degrees above ambient, but no less than 140 degrees at full temp), the pinion bearing is the warmest thing on the differential (about 50 degrees above ambient), the carrier bearing runs about 60-70 degrees above ambient. The front and rear axles are just something like 30 or 40 degrees above ambient. All front U-joint are ambient temperature, and rears are about 20-30 degrees above ambient.


I raised my eyebrow with the carrier bearing. My driveline guy is done with me, he holds the same opinion as some of my esteemed colleagues here - it's in my head. To that, I say I have one mechanic that agrees something sounds and feels odd... and the Ford dealership replaced the torque converter on their warranty dime in the hopes of eliminating the long-run oscillation that they felt on the test drive.


I am putting Stinky on the lift after a long drive, and we're going to find the growler and the shaker... but I own the misser's ***.

 

For symptom #2 I has a similar growl, in my feet and the wheel couldn't feel it anywhere else. I drained the t case and strained the fluid through a paper towel and came up with a whole bunch of chrome flakes. $120 usd at a wrecking yard and about an hour and a half labor with a motorcycle/atv jack and noire growl. Just an idea.

 

Rich on #2 if you are feeling it when you are in overdrive, can you feel it at same speed when out of overdrive. Hopefully to eliminate if it is crank speed related or drive line related. On #3 is this felt in steering wheel? Any tire guys out there, would a tire do this after it warms up?

 

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