Start truck.... nasty knock in head

[Yo Hoot]

2004 5.9 (see signature)
Haven't been around for a while. Truck has been great All of a sudden yesterday I started it up to go home from work and it sounds like something broken in the head and it's shaking. What do you all think? Dropped valve seat? Injector?

 

[EDankievitch]

You need to pull the valve cover. look for anything out of normal with the valves . Was it smoking? My bet is the head has to come off....

 

[Yo Hoot]

You need to pull the valve cover. look for anything out of normal with the valves . Was it smoking? My bet is the head has to come off....

Yea kinda what I'm thinking. I'm not doing the work. To much on the back. Guess I'm looking at 2k

Didn't notice any smoke

 

[Yo Hoot]

Looking for a local shop in SE PA

 

[BillBaker]

Zimmey' Diesel maybe in Lebanon Pa? Previous owner of my truck used to take it to these guys.

 

[WalterJ]

Mind reporting status of "knocking"? I'd like to file this sound and your findings in my organic memory file. Thanks & hope it wasn't too bad...

 

[Yo Hoot]

Mind reporting status of "knocking"? I'd like to file this sound and your findings in my organic memory file. Thanks & hope it wasn't too bad...

Dropped a valve seat. Full rebuild. Bent the connecting rod. Now bored .020 over, new pistons, connecting rod, Hamilton tow cam and springs, new F1 injectors, new harmonic balancer, rebuilt turbo. $15k for everything including labor. A whole lot cheaper than a new truck. I love this truck. It is such a classic now. Owned it since new. I was told a long time ago 2003 and 2004 were susceptible to dropping valve seats.

 

[Joe Mc]

Sorry to hear it was that bad. Didn't sound good, but didn't think it would be that bad. How many miles were on it? You did the right thing, especially if you love the truck. I know what you mean "classic" have had my 99 since 5/01, just (after starting in April) got it registered as classic. 3 yes back had all metal and paint done, $10k, it ain't going anywhere without me. Are you back on road yet? Where'd you end up having work done?

 

[Wayne M.]

Yo Hoot!
So sorry to hear of the failure.
You’re now our head cheerleader for keeping these 3gens and not dumping them.

 

[Yo Hoot]

Sorry to hear it was that bad. Didn't sound good, but didn't think it would be that bad. How many miles were on it? You did the right thing, especially if you love the truck. I know what you mean "classic" have had my 99 since 5/01, just (after starting in April) got it registered as classic. 3 yes back had all metal and paint done, $10k, it ain't going anywhere without me. Are you back on road yet? Where'd you end up having work done?

Truck had 170k on it. Been back on the road. 175k on it now. Runs great! It wasn't easy finding a place to rebuid it. I had it pulled out at a place in West Chester, PA. Our local places... Muldoons and Miller Machine had a big backlog. Shipped it out to Mumau Diesel out near Pittsburgh,PA. They did a great job.

 

[Joe Mc]

Thanks. Pittsburgh that's a bit of shipping. Glad it's back on line.

 

[bigblock_doc]

Same thing happened to my 2012. It had a replacement head at 146,000 because of
water leak. The new head had 150,000 then the valve seat came out and took
out a rod. Nice hole in the passenger side of the block. What's up with this?
Ended up with new truck.

 

[cerberusiam]

Replacement head wasn't done correctly. Valve seats dropping on anything newer than 05 is a rare occurrence, sans outright abuse. Early 5.9's had issues dropped valve seats due to seat composition and insert clearances. However, a bad injector can have a detrimental effec ton head just as well as a piston.

 

[bigblock_doc]

The head was new, I thought. Took a week to get it shipped from the west here to Mi.
It was ordered from the dealer and installed there.
The head was a complete assembly.
Do you think there is a problem going over 150,000 miles?
My 2018 had 52,000 and traded of for a 2019 which has 70,000, maybe trade
next year?

 

[cerberusiam]

Yeah, if it dropped a valve it likely was a reman head. Should be no issue going 4-500k all things being equal. No hot tunes, no shower head injectors, no outright abuse with constant high EGT's.

 

[Joe Mc]

After considering all in this post I consider my self fortunate I got mine (5/01, with75k miles) when I did and no 53 block. No wonder you see 98.5 - 02's selling for 15k. I'm keeping mine "forever" how ever long that may be for me.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

Replacement head wasn't done correctly. Valve seats dropping on anything newer than 05 is a rare occurrence, sans outright abuse. Early 5.9's had issues dropped valve seats due to seat composition and insert clearances. However, a bad injector can have a detrimental effec ton head just as well as a piston.

Is there a write up on the susceptibility of early third gens and valve dropping? I've got an 03 with 228K

 

[cerberusiam]

More like a series of threads and findings over a space of time. If you are keeping it stock chances for issues are low. However, if you are running a tuner to make it perform like a 325 with extra power then the potential exists for problems.

The seats and valves were updated for the 04.5 release and again for MY 06. Basically a slight change in materials to handle heat better and tighter tolerances on the seat fitment to the head. That allowed for more heat soak in the cylinder which is what will get to the earlier heads when you try to push it to hard. If it is an HO you have less of chance of problems, and SO has more things to consider and watch.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

More like a series of threads and findings over a space of time. If you are keeping it stock chances for issues are low. However, if you are running a tuner to make it perform like a 325 with extra power then the potential exists for problems.

The seats and valves were updated for the 04.5 release and again for MY 06. Basically a slight change in materials to handle heat better and tighter tolerances on the seat fitment to the head. That allowed for more heat soak in the cylinder which is what will get to the earlier heads when you try to push it to hard. If it is an HO you have less of chance of problems, and SO has more things to consider and watch.

Noted, shes an 03 H.O. 6MT, I only have power plans up to my clutch specs, 490 hp, 880ft lb. I'll just be trying to get there on near stock components and tuning. Nothing crazy just chasing fuel economy and torque.

 

[AH64ID]

Noted, shes an 03 H.O. 6MT, I only have power plans up to my clutch specs, 490 hp, 880ft lb. I'll just be trying to get there on near stock components and tuning. Nothing crazy just chasing fuel economy and torque.

That will take a fair amount of duration to get to with near stock sticks. Likely if you’re after low end power you will hit the torque limit first.

Also, the turbo will be a limiting factor if your looking for a towing setup and even not towing 490 would be quite hot on a HE341.

A good all around tune, without out really pushing duration, rail pressure, or timing would likely net you 400/850 for street and 350/800 for towing with those injectors and turbo.