Motor stumbled and came out of it, ticks now

[mainiac]

Howdy folks, I wonder if anyone here has any experiences with this.

I was pulling out of the gas station this afternoon, and when I got on the throttle just enough to get into traffic and stop at a red light. My engine started stumbling and shaking. Nowhere for me to go but wait for the redlight to change so I can pull back into the parking lot. As I was making my way back into the lot, after that eternal red light, it came out of it slowly and now runs like it always did. Except for a ticking from the #1 cylinder area.
I drove it home and it ticks louder at a planed out speed and I think it almost goes away as I load the engine with some juice. And at idle, I can barely make it out standing next to the fender. My oil pressure was normal on the way home, never fluctuating.
My pump and injectors are a year old, as is the engine. I just rebuilt it last Nov.
I shut it off in the driveway and started it again, it ticked the same as before. I did notice my glow plug controller started clicking right away. It never clicks right away, even on a hot engine.
I'm going to go pull the glow plugs and pray they are in one piece.
Wonder if my injector took a dump, or what.

Anyone got any experiences with a bad inj or broken glow plug tip?

Thanks in advance guys
Mike

 

[icanfixall]

Start by loosening that injector line and see if it changes. Then swap that injector for any other easy to reach injector. See if the condition follows. If you have another injector laying around on the bench use that one and listen for the sounds you posted about. If the sound stays at that cylinder then pull the glow plug and check for missing parts but I hope its not the glow tip imbeded in the piston...

 

[mainiac]

Nevermind, #5 gp broke off. It was a Beru too.
Guess I'm tearing down an engine again this year.
Anyone got an 86 block they wanna get rid of?

 

[icanfixall]

Really sorry to hear this but... You may find the tip imbeded and nothing else damaged. The piston tops or crowns if you may are between .570 and .580 thick. Good luck.... BTW do you know how much advance you were running? Sometimes big advance will burn up glow plugs. Other times is just that kind of luck some have. Rereading your first post you stated that when you shut it down and restarted it in the driveway the glow plug started clicking and its never done that before. That may be where the glow plug failed from. The plugs shut down when the motor comes off the startup advance. Thats when the coolant reaches 120 degrees. Others will chime in on what I have posted if I'm off on anything a bit....

 

[mainiac]

Thanks for the sympathy, I'll remain positive about this dilema.
I think the way it stumbled, it ruined a valve or both. Power seemed to be at a loss. Could be me, though.
I have a lead on a nice 7.3, wonder how that would go in the old beast.

 

[suv7734]

You might want to use a stethoscope, piece of hose etc. and have a listen to your lift/tranfer pump (below the alternator). From what your describing it could be that the lift pump is on its way out and not providing enough fuel which would cause a stumble. They are also known to tick sometimes when they are about done and they are right there at #1 cylinder.
Just a thought.

Bruce

 

[Agnem]

Sounds like a good excuse for a set of new head gaskets. Sorry to hear about the bad luck. That IS very unusual for a Beru to do that.

 

[Diesel JD]

I bet you are too far advanced. I'd pull only that head and see if you can just pull out the damaged plug and fix any head damage then call it good. These piston tops are tough. You might be OK after you get the tip out.

 

[mainiac]

I think I pretty well embedded the tip into the piston.
My timing is right on, or very close to it. I do it with a pusle adapter and advance timing light, however accurate that is.
I'm going to look at an 89' 7.3. It's from a salvage yard, I know who the guy that owned it years ago, and the fella that bought it says it only has 86k on it. I've known the current owner for over 20 years and he has always been honest and treated me right. This is the only reason I'm going to hear it run.
He wants $800 for it, needs an oil pan. I have a 6.9 pan that isn't being used, that should fit.
I doubt DCA was used with this trucks cooling system, but a donor motor will get me through this years snow plowing season. I hope it snows enough to get my 6.9 back in the truck.

Any goods and bads about replacing the 6.9 with this 7.3?
I'll be able to use the block heater!
Worries about cavitation?

I don't know as that is that big an issue. I haven't seen anything like that with my own peepers, anyone have it happen to them and know what signs I should watch out for?

Sorry for the lengthy read.

Thansk for all of your thoughts, and posting them.

 

[Diesel JD]

Well if you need a motor to get it running then if it starts and runs, it might be a good idea. Not too excessive of a price. 86K is probably too young to see cavitation in most/many cases. I would run it and then be real careful to keep up with the SCA. Is the 800 for the truck or just the 7.3 engine? If just ther engine I'd rather see it around 600 bucks or less. If its for the whole truck, 800 for a runner, you have nothing to complain about...you can get that out of the value of even a core block, the scrap metal from the truck and parts. 800 isn't too excessive for a running engine in good shape, but just a bit on the high side.

 

[mainiac]

I couldn't get it running long enough to get a feel for it. Plus it was very dirty. The feeling I did get was to fix my motor. I've got it almost ready to come out. Will open it up and see what my options are. I have a spare set of heads if the one on it is junk, motor still ran fine when I drove it into the shop.
I had a hard time, mentally, taking it apart. I did have wifey there to make jokes and fun of me, so that made it better.

I'll post a few pics for everyone's viewing pleasure.

 

[zigg]

I'm not sure here, but you said now it's got a tick. That's not so bad. If it's running fine otherwise, I'd vote to just leave well enough alone and drive it till it quits.

My '86 ran with several glow plug tips embedded for several years, and never had a problem. You might get many many miles out of it.

Unless it's really failing, or missing, or lacking power badly, I'd vote to just drive it and as ole' Fred used to say "Let it develop"...

This sounds like the classic case of the early Glowplug relay failure though....leaves the glowplugs on till they burn right out. Even a buru can't survive that...

Here's a pic of one of the pistons with over 400,000miles on it, after I melted the engine down!! These things are TOUGH

 

[Diesel JD]

Well, I agree with Don...almost, since you have it almost ready to come out, just pull that head, and fix what you know is broken, and if the psiton isn't actually cracked you could just let it go. I get the impression this is a somewhat fresh motor, so you might get away with just taking that piston out, and as long as it's within limits, just slide a new one in and call it good.

 

[f-two-fiddy]

I can't recall how many peeps I've read about passing a tip, and then getting 100K + miles out of their engines.
It isn't the right way to do it, but many have.
Someone else posted they'd been driving their IDI for 60K miles with a cracked piston.

I'd pull the head and remove any left overs. Check/repair the pushrods/vavles/seats, and bolt it back together.

 

[mainiac]

I pulled the motor out last night and pulled the head. What a mistake that was!
I didn't do **** to the head, valves, and just bunged up the piston top. I pryed a sliver of the tip out of the piston about the size of a pencil lead. It just chomped that thing to pieces.
My truck is pacman.
Going to drop a new HG on it and tighten the ***** back down and drive it.
I think the tick was that sliver taping the head surface. I think it was getting quieter when I shut it down the last time.
I feel better having had a look inside, now to the reassembly.
Thanks for the input. I'll take a few pics and post later.