What's this noise?

[WStrong]

I looked at a early '91 Dodge Cummins 4x4 with 181,000 miles in pretty good shape for Vermont and bought it. When I went to pick it up the owner said that he moved it away from the road and it started to make a clattering/grinding noise coming from around the timing gear area. He loosened the belt to see if it was the water pump and it wasn't that. Power steering is full. The truck has sat quite a bit. He felt so bad that he gave me my money back and wouldn't let me take it. If it was something simple I'd still like to buy it as it was a wicked deal.

 

[JHumphries]

Killer Dowel Pin?

 

[JLEONARD]

Killer dowel pin would be my first thought as well.

But I am wondering is one of the vacuum diaphram pumps maybe has a stuck pushrod????

I would remove the V belt and start it up... see if the noise is still there. That would eliminate anything belt driven like the diaphram pumps. power steering, Idler pulley assembly, etc.



IF it's the KDP then the damage is already done? If it's running with a loose dowel pin in there I can't imagine it making too much noise unless it already took some gears out in which case it wouldn't run??



Maybe it clattering because it's cold and that's a normal diesel engine sound?

Hard to diagnose noises when you can't hear them for yourself. It's too subjective. One man's clatter may be another man's purr.

 

[dodgenstein]

Vacuum pump is gear driven, removal of V-belt won't eliminate that.

 

[cerberusiam]

Vacuum pump is gear driven, removal of V-belt won't eliminate that.

I wanna know where the v-belt is??

 

[PToombs]

That's the one that drives the plow pump.

 

[WStrong]

The engine starts and runs like it should so it can't be too serious. The noise is as loud as the engine running and it's like none the we have ever heard. It almost sounds like a bad bearing screaching and grinding in the area of the timing gears. It's funny that it started all of a sudden, it ran quiet when I first looked at it. Maybe I'll offer the fella less money for it.

 

[JHumphries]

I was wondering if the dowel chipped one of the gears. You know, one of 'the lucky' failures.

 

[JLEONARD]

Vacuum pump is gear driven,

Yea I know that... guess there was too much clanking noise going around in my head... . finger couldn't hear me telling him what to type... :-laf

 

[dodgenstein]

Vacuum pump is gear driven,

Yea I know that... guess there was too much clanking noise going around in my head... . finger couldn't hear me telling him what to type... :-laf

That's OK, I thought "S" belt and typed V-belt.

 

[JLEONARD]

That's OK, I thought "S" belt and typed V-belt.

:-laf:-laf Yea dixlexic mechanics. :-laf:-laf

S, V, gear driven, pear driven whatever. :-laf:-laf

Do what I mean, not what I type.