Not sure what to do next... The ongoing saga of the eternal knock of death.

[SparkandFire]

So, yesterday I installed the new sealed power lifters into the blue truck, I let them soak overnight in clean oil.

Fired the engine back up.

Still knocks.

At this point everything above the centerline of the engine has been eliminated as suspect. Compression test shows good, valves/springs all look good, cam checked out ok. Injectors have been swapped out with the good ones from the black truck.

I suspect wrist pin carnage or a spun rod bearing. Either way, my clean, no oil leaks, fresh fleetcharge filled 200k mile factory turbo engine is done and needs to come out.

Not sure what to do with it. Wife wants me to sell the truck and be happy with the black truck. I've put a ton of money into this thing and hate to sell it for scrap value because the engine is dead. I would rather get it back on the road again...

I am either going to have to pull the engine and attempt to rebuild it, or buy a reman engine. I like the idea of getting a reman to drop in, Promar seems to have a decent price on Ebay right now for one.

Engine swap with the black truck is out of the question, it's the daily ride to work...

 

[Dieselcrawler]

Since the top is new, get a short block and throw it together

 

[7.3 powerstrok]

hello you can find the knocking cylinder by loosen the injector lines 1 at a time with engine running .turn up the idle to about 1,000 rpms valve train noise on these engines will be at twice the speed of lower end knocks, wrist pin is not likely, and after a hard ride around the block a spun bearing will drop the oil pressure down to about 10 psi if you still got good oil pressure the bottom end still good ,

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

I'm seeing a pattern with a challenging engine knock that is difficult to diagnose. With the remnants of a piston and a bent connecting rod from my friends double windowed block, I suspect you have a piston trying to come apart and hasn't done so yet.
Like Corey said, time for a short block as well I fear.

 

[Agnem]

Just curious, but since you have a manual trans, have you tried this....
Find a big hill and get the truck up to speed, and then turn the key off...

Curious if compression alone would cause it to knock, or if it needs combustion. If compression alone will do it, you could try pulling one glow plug at a time until the knock goes away (assuming you could hear the knock over the sound of the air rushing out).

 

[hairyboxnoogle]

Why get a short block? If its just a knock it is not that expensive to fix. Set of rod / main bearings, polish the crank, recondition the rods (that need it) and away you go. If it were a piston compression would be low. With our oil pumps i think a bearing would have to get REAL bad before a signifigant pressure drop occured.

Heres what you do. Crack injector lines 1 at a time like above mentioned. When the knock goes away you found the ROD bearing that is bad. If the knock does NOT go away, it is a MAIN bearing.

 

[SparkandFire]

It seems to me that it is compression related, since I have cracked each injector and nothing quiets it down. I ran it yesterday without the turbo and I can hear the knock over the open pipe exhaust under the hood...

When this first started, I did exactly what you're talking about, Mel. I coasted all the way down the hill with the engine in gear and key off, it definitely knocks without any fuel whatsoever going into the cylinders...

This afternoon I may try and pull glowplugs one at a time to see if I can isolate it. I've been using my handy stethoscope, it seems to be drivers side, loudest sounds are from the rear two cylinders... (nearly went deaf on that one.)

 

[Dieselcrawler]

And can't rule out wrist pins since it is a factory turbo motor. There has been issues with them before iirc

 

[Thefarmboy21]

My dad slung a rod threw both sides of my oil pan in my 6.9. Wondered why the oil filter was stuck...turns out the rod was stuck in it lol!

 

[hairyboxnoogle]

My dad slung a rod threw both sides of my oil pan in my 6.9. Wondered why the oil filter was stuck...turns out the rod was stuck in it lol!

wow lol

I didnt mention wrist pin because im not sure if it would keep clackin or go away with the injector cracked. I want to say it keeps going. but a wrist pin makes more of a slapping whereas a rod/main is a definite knock. A wrist pin will also sound as if its coming from the head, wheras a rod/main will sound lower in the block and cant tell which side. Hope some of this helps.