Is the 3rd gen having engine knocking problems?

[RGower]

Sorry if I offended you long time Cummins owners, but I honestly have nothing against diesel noise. In fact my truck is worth every knock and clatter as long as it is normal. It is just that any engine noise that suddenly appears and stays makes me nervous. If this is normal I am happy but if not why wait for something to go wrong when I am traveling in the middle of nowhere. Look forward to more input.



Thanks Richard

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

Yeh, man, like ditto to what Tarzan said.



Enough whining from the sissies. I bought this truck to "drive it like I stole it". Flex, pose, I'm a REAL man.



Gauges- pshaw! If I needed them they would have come with the truck. This diesel baby runs on heat - the hotter the better. Cooling down is like time-outs for children. If the turbo cooks I either didn't need it or I'll buy a bigger one.



Flats - change them? Snort! Just drive that sucker. What in tarnation do you think wheels are round for any how? - yeesh.



Death Wobblies - Oh man, get a gripe. You better head for the gym if you can't even hang on. When I was a pup they didn't even have POWER steering, for the love of Pete!



Steering Wander - What are you scared of. Go through it not around it. What are you driving a truck or a Yugo? Trees, curbs, powerstokes, wheelchairs - BAM - if it can't handle it, it must not be a real truck anyway.



Lift pump problems? Get real. Pumps and Lifts are for the "light in the loafers" bunch. I duct tape a jug on the top of the truck and gravity feed that sucker. And if I need more boost I'll hook up the shop vac!



T-Rex is for dinosaurs - extinct, track bars are the saloons down by the depot, and Ranchos are mexican farmers. Fancy Schmancy Bling bling boyz.



Exhaust brakes - Yo, momma's boy. Whatsa matter can't you even push down on the peddle hard enough to make it stop! Bad enough that they had to put in disc brakes and power assist for the girlie men. Snort, scratch , sniff.



Change oil? Come on, this is a million mile motor. If it can't handle a couple 100ks straight through what a POS. Then theres the doily crowd filtering this, filtering that, and REAL oil aint even good enough for them. They gotta have SINthetic - probably use hair spray too.



Come on, buck up, get a hold of your bootstraps or get a Chevy - yeesh, grumble, flex, pose.

 

[Ken F]

 

[Northerner]

Originally posted by LHebert

Gee's, what a breath of fresh air, I live 60 miles east of you and drive my 04 to SFO everyday as fast as it will go. Ya know what, sometimes it rattles, bangs, and makes funny noises, well so did my 98 and 01, dah, its a diesel. Its no wonder the dealers are pulling there hair out with these off-the-wall mysterious engine noise problems. Have half of these people ever owned a REAL truck???

Thanks for bringing some reality back into this forum.



HELLO

This person is in the half that have. My1st gen is still going at almost 500,000 kms. My 99 is being tortured by a young guy I sold it to a while back after I drove it 210,000 hard kms. So with that out of the way I guess I can say I know what a Cummins is supposed to sound like and what mine does once warmed up and just off idle is not it !!!

 

[rbattelle]

Hey RGower and Northerner, any updates on your knocks? Mine's back to doing it again from idle to around 1200 RPM or so, only under light throttle and only when hot. I continue to be reluctant to take it to the dealer. Fuel economy is unchanged, power unchanged. But it is quite the loud knock, in my opinion. It is easily audible with the windows up, A/C blowing, radio on, and engine fan engaged!

 

[Matt400]

Originally posted by DPelletier

3) I believe that most (NOT ALL) engine noise complaints are common noises inherent to this engine. They likely existed on engines pre-'03, but nobody could hear them!

I have to agree with you on that Dave. The quietness of the 3rd gen was a selling point for me and turned me on to Diesels for the first time.



Myself like others here was concerned with the rattle that would come and go at slow speeds. I mentioned the loose injector some have found to the dealer while they were doing a recall and they shinned it on so for piece of mind I pulled the Valve Cover, checked them all and the valve clearance while I was in there.



All was good and the little time spent was well worth it.

 

[ttreibel]

My 3rd Gen has 26,500 on it now and I have a knock now and then, It has gotten louder as it has broken in but still much quieter than my 1990 7. 3 F250. It slowly gets louder as I aproach the 7500 mile oil change and the 15K fuel filter change. Ater changing those two filters the truck sound almost as quiet as the first day I bought it.





Dont get me started on the Blow-by smell that is my main complaint I have fix it myself not wanting to wait for the dealer to figure it out. I hope at our next Bomb party to install gauges and get my valves checked to rule out that adding to my blow-by smell.



If mine started knocking I would change the fuel filter add more Diesel Fuel Additive and but Fuel at a different Station I don't have as many problems because I buy fuel at Flying-J in Fife Washington and they get a new load daily it's not always the cheapest but it is certainly the freshest. When I travel I sometimes get a rough tank I just add more fuel conditioner.

 

[DGFoster]

Mine sounds like an old straight six that has all its lifters colapsed,but only in spirts,it comes and goes,if I give it pedal just to keep the speed constant it will clatter then go away,lasts just a few seconds,and if I set the cruise if I come to a hill and it slitely eccelerates it will clatter real loud,RPMs are anywere from 2000 to 2300 since I have the 4:10s.



But it is nothing compared to what the Ford guys are experiencing,I have had powerstrokes before but I sure am glad I got a Cummins

 

[Northerner]

Originally posted by rbattelle

Hey RGower and Northerner, any updates on your knocks? Mine's back to doing it again from idle to around 1200 RPM or so, only under light throttle and only when hot. I continue to be reluctant to take it to the dealer. Fuel economy is unchanged, power unchanged. But it is quite the loud knock, in my opinion. It is easily audible with the windows up, A/C blowing, radio on, and engine fan engaged!

rbattelle

It's still the same . Its a low RPM thing clears up around 1200 rpm and runs smooth, same as RGrower. Just to clarify it isn't the rattle we get when we start out in second . I'm pretty sure its a fueling issue. If it gets worse I'll take it in to get it checked. If any one finds a cure let us all know.

 

[RGower]

Engine knock

Hello Northerner and rbattelle. Sorry for not posting this sooner. I got my truck back from the dealer 2 weeks ago and was told there was nothing abnormal with my engine. I had given them a detailed written explanation of when the knock was present. I was not satisfied with their report. My friend has the same truck with 24000 km mileage and he has no knock. Mine has 18600 km mileage.

I contacted the Cummins Customer Assistance Center by e-mail and gave them the details of the knock. Their reply was- they did not expect any serious problem, it may be a fuel knock. If it did not clear up after the next tank of fuel further investigation might be necessary. Take it back to the dealer and if they can not determine the source of the noise ask them for a purchase order to have the nearest Cummins distributor check it out.

I was very impressed with Cummins fast and helpful reply to my concerns.

I have already gone through a tank of fuel since the knock began and no improvement.

I will be taking Cummins advise but unfortunately it will be at least a couple of weeks before I will have the time to deal with it.

To recap- engine knock is present between 800-1200 rpm when accelerating slowly. This occurs when the engine has been driven at normal operating temperature, turned off for at least several minutes, (ie. going into a store) restarted and slowly accelerated in gear (drive or reverse). It is not present slowly accelerating from a cold start or from an idling stop (ie. stop sign)

The knock started at about 17000 km mileage.

Good luck and I will keep you posted.

RGower

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

While I've never had any knocking issues with my '03 HO, which has 29,800 miles, but I do get an irritating tick occasionally, which I am sure is injection related.



As many have noticed my #1 injection line pulses much stronger than the rest when I put my finger on it. That injector line is not supported by any brackets so I am planning to get one of the mount pieces from Cummins and see if I can attach it to the air horn to give it more support. I am interested to see if that dampens some of the pulsation and quells some of the harmonics that may be contributing to this.



It's also possible the harmonics felt in Line #1 is due to hydraulic pulsations in the fuel rail which may be set up by the engine firing order and Line #1 is where the shock wave happens to peak.



Vaughn

 

[PRush]

Addittives? Loose injectors? Knocking? Clatter? Bad fuel? I have 30,000 on mine with only the dealer rip-off big dollar service charges and I have zero complaints. Average 17. 8 city & highway, & off road and I keep my foot in a 48RE. Could be I need a hearing aid cause the damn things so loud, Huh? sPEAK uP!

 

[Yo Hoot]

Mine runs like a Swiss Watch... well it sounds perfect.

 

[FDrake]

Okay, mine pings like my old, sick 454. Do I need to torque the injectors to see if they are loose are can I just tighten them down firmly? I have the pinging when starting with a load but it isnt noticable otherwise. The mileage has gotten to where my '02 was when towing now, too. It goes like a scalded cat normally. Or should I just wait a while. I have just under 3K miles on it.

Frank

 

[dieselpilot1969]

Putting up w/an occasional ticky noise is cool compared to some of the noises other hoopdees I've driven over the years made

 

[RGower]

TALES OF A WARRANTY REPAIR

BY RGOWER

See my previous post for knocking symptoms and initial attempt to get it fixed.

I took my truck back to the dealer and showed them my email from Cummins. I then took the diesel tech for a drive to demonstrate the knock. He agreed he had missed the problem on my previous visit apparently they do not see enough new engines yet to be familiar with the not so normal knocks.

He was very helpful and while I waited he called Chrysler Engineering and got the go ahead to locate the problem by shutting off the injectors one at a time.

I dropped the truck off the following week and the next day the tech called and stated the # 2 injector was carboned up also Chrysler Engineering was making noises I had Idled the engine too much. As this was not the case (I do all highway driving and only idle for the cool down period per the manual). I told him not to worry and if they wanted to check the on board computer- I would be proven innocent.

Chrysler agreed to fix the problem but insisted the tech try to clean the injector first (much to the annoyance of the tech). This failed as was suspected so a new injector was ordered.

14 days later the part finally arrived-just where do they come from any way??

The dealer was just as perplexed and very sympathetic they gave us a car rental no charge for the last 4 days- my wife was furious with Chrysler about our truck being out of commission for 2 1/2 weeks- she loves this truck more than I thought or maybe it was the 50 grand. Any way there is no wrath like a womans.

On the way home (about 25 miles) we could smell burning oil. I checked under the truck and it was dripping with engine oil. The dip stick was only 1/8 inch above the add mark. Back to the dealer we go on a flat bed.

The valve cover gasket had not sealed and according to the dealer they are required by Chrysler to reuse the gasket if it does not appear damaged.

So I am happy to report I now have no knocking, a new gasket and thanks only to our common sense an engine that is not blown-but too close for comfort.

Wow warranty work is quite an ordeal.

PS If there is a next time-heaven forbid, I will gladly pay for a new gasket and pick up the injector myself.

Where could it have been Mongolia!!!:--)

 

[rbattelle]

RGower,



Stories like that are precisely why I won't take mine in unless the engine explodes.

 

[Matt400]

After 13,000 miles, no problems here.



Except for the price of fuel at 2. 099/gal in So. CA.

Wish I had your trouble... . 2. 46/gal here.

 

[joeyou]

what about the clatter sound a diesel makes, like bad gas in a v-8, anyone notice if theirs has gotten louder and why? Mine seems to have gotten louder very strange, however I have just kept on driving

Mine has gotton noticeably louder at idle since it was new (have 3600 miles now. ) I had the reflash done a while back for fuel economy, but I didn't recall the "clatter" happening right after the flash. It sounds like combustion noise to me, but I'm wondering why the change in sound?

 

[GSX600]

They checked injectors, replaced injector pump, and ended up replacing camshaft to stop the knocking at idle and low speeds at any tempature.