99 PSD making LOUD rattling noise at idle

[C. Harlan]

my neighbor has a 99 PSD, and this thing sounds like its going to rattle itself apart..... I think it is the injector pump, but he has talked to someone who says its the torque converter... anyone know????



-Chris-

 

[bmoeller]

The Powerstrokes don't have a fuel injection pump. Could have a bad injector possibly. Don't know if the '99's had the same problem as some of the earlier engines, but some times the harness going to the injectors would rub through from the valve cover.



Does it only do it when when cold or does it do it when warm also? If it does it when cold, it may have some bad glow plugs. On the Powerstrokes, I think (not 100% sure though) the glowplugs are under the valve cover.

 

[Ram4Sam]

I lived that nightmare....

Chris, been there, done that. I will bet you it is the torque converter. I had a 99 POSPSD that was on it's third TQ at 25,000 miles. If it sounds like a bunch of ball bearings swirling around in a coffee can, thats what it is. If I remember right, the noise was rumored to be the clutch plates(metal ones) in the overdrive clutch rattling together. There were numerous tsb's about this. The TQ's still worked okay, they just had a god awful rattle to them. I feel his pain, believe me!



Sam

 

[pdolan]

Chris:



'99 and up powerjokes use a Cat unit injector, but Ford, in their infinite cheapo wisdom, makes their own fuel supply system and, frankly, it doesn't work. Therefore, #8 cylinder tends to fire early and with a high peak overpressure (as much as 25%). Ford has a TSB fix, the infamous Long Lead #8 injector, but it not only doesn't fix the problem, it seems to make some trucks WORSE. Moral of the story is that some (most, maybe ALL) powerjokes fire early on one cylinder and put a nasty torque reversal into the crankshaft, which destroys clutches, pilot bearings and torque converters with ease. To make it worse, the '99's with a manual have a "dual mass" flywheel that suffers the same fate as the automatics and shakes apart as well.



So, in all likelihood, you neighbour has a bad converter.



Pat

 

[lmills]

Oh yeah, I lived the night mare of the dual mass fly wheel. That junk flew apart a couple of times for me. I replaced two flywheels in less than 100K miles.