Hard knocking sound diagnosis. (vid)

[Christian9112]

Give it to me straight doc. do I have to put her down?
7.3 idi 1994 ambulance.

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not sure if its normal or not. it drives ok. shifts normally. it did that thing once where the starter did not engage the flywheel. it also had coolant inside the access cover when i opened it

 

[Thewespaul]

Does not sound good. Try loosening an injector line at a time while it’s running and see if the sound changes.

 

[Christian9112]

it sounds like a tick more than a knock. the sound disappears sometimes.

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[Christian9112]

the exhaust is almost smokeless. Might be an advance tick? the sound is more noticeable at the bottom rear of the engine. I might be hearing the exhaust or the transmission clunking

 

[towcat]

check your flexplate

 

[icanfixall]

Good call on the flexplate. My idea also.

 

[Christian9112]

the guy that sold it to me said that he lost a belt before. Could that have broken the flex plate? I'm a little intimidated of removing a tranny. the flexplate does not have any play if I try to wiggle it from the access port. Not sure if that is a proper test for it. The teeth looks like its has normal wear.
if it is the flex plate, how long could I drive it for?

 

[Christian9112]

what parts would I need to change a flexplate? Is it just the literal flexplate? No gaskets? maybe just a tranny jack? this e350 has me feeling like im training for the contortionist section of the Olympics.

 

[Thewespaul]

Just a flexplate if you dont decide to do other things while youre in there like rear main seal.

 

[Christian9112]

awesome! I might need to replace a freeze plug since I saw coolant on the cover plate. Can I just tap the hole and plug it?

 

[nostrokes]

awesome! I might need to replace a freeze plug since I saw coolant on the cover plate. Can I just tap the hole and plug it?

No. There needs to be the freeze plug. They are there to pop if the coolant ever freezes so it doesn't crack your block.

 

[Christian9112]

Good call. Thanks. Do you happen to know what size or part number?

 

[nostrokes]

I do not have either. There was a thread here a few months ago talking about them. Might try a search for freeze plug.

 

[Christian9112]

So I finally got around to taking the flex plate out. There were no cracks. However, im not sure if the space was placed correctly before because the new flex plate is thicker

Flex plate 7.3 idi ambulance https://imgur.com/gallery/HmK5X

 

[towcat]

can you take some pics that are better focused where the rusty streaks are radiating outwards from the mounting holes? the rusty streaks are the indicators of where a crack has formed. centrifugal force gets the stuff to radiate outwards, so follow to where it starts. if the fuzzy pics look right, you have cracked through in one part but the end is very near.