7.3 smoking/tapping/ticking bad

[snoredog]

I bought the truck about a year ago, and it was smoking like a coal power plant till it warmed up a few minutes after that. On the 500 mile trip back home, me and dad started to hear a faint tapping sound from the engine. We both thought it was an exhaust leak because it would come and go without any real pattern. Then it stopped doing it until a few months ago. I undershifted bad trying to smoke the car behind me and the ticking/tapping came back for good this time. I read what somebody on here said about it possibly being a valve or injector. So I tried the run up and back off the throttle and the ticking is still quite loud. It is pretty quiet at idle and gets louder with increasing rpms. I parked it quick after that started cause I didn't want to trash the engine just yet. The guy before me didn't seem like he took great care of the truck, and he said he bought it from an excavating company. So basically I dont know what kind of care was taken of it and really dont know where to look for the problem. I know it is on the passenger side though and the exhaust has a chuff chuff chuff sound at a regular interval. My guess was exhaust valve. What do ya'll think and what are my options?
thanks in advance

 

[FordGuy100]

Tell me this, does the ticking sound occur all the time? I mean, can you hear it idling along, or is it when your on the throttle. If you can hear the ticking when your driving, then let off the throttle and it instantly goes away, or just about goes away, then its more than likely injectors.

 

[Diesel JD]

Sounds like you're talking about a bad exhaust valve on the passenger side. Pull the valve cover, that's your next step. If its a bad valve you should see it. Is this a 6.9 or 7.3? I wouldn't run it till its fixed. Dropped valves is the numer 1 or 2 killer of these things.

 

[snoredog]

My bad guys I thought I had the signature thing figured out. Yeah JD its a 7.3. I figured it was only a matter of time till it killed itself so its been parked for a while now. FG100 I want to say its a constant ticking. I read that thread about testing it by running up to 45 then backing off and listening for it. Its pretty quiet at idle but you can hear it if you listen hard enough. Over about 1200 rpms though it sounds like its trying to come apart. I had it up to about 2000 and you cant hear anything else over the tapping sound. It doesn't really quiet down till I mash the clutch in and it goes back to idle. I was gonna try to pull the valve cover today or tomorrow and see if anything is out of the ordinary. What exactly should I look for?

 

[Classicfordguy]

My truck had a horrible nocking noise that was very loud under the truck near the bell housing. Sounded like someone hitting the engine with a hammer over and over, it would come and go pretty regularly. Lots of people thought it was an injector but when it stopped firing on one cylinder I tore the thing down and it turned out to be a VERY worn cylinder and the piston was just slapping around every time it went up and down. Hope this isn't what's wrong with yours.

-Rob