Valve noise / chuff

renjaminfrankln

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I'm in the middle of trying to figure out why my IDI makes this noise at idle. The exhaust noise seems to go away at higher RPM's and if the truck is idling cold, the noise is there but much less pronounced. (See video) The engine makes a ticking noise that appears to be coming from the passenger side head. The ticking sound is there at all RPM's, hot or cold.

I suspected it could be a lifter. or some other valvetrain problem. Injectors and IP were serviced by wes about 2000 miles ago. It didnt sound like a fuel issue to me either. I decided to tear the engine down and have a look. I have the valley pan out and the passenger side valve cover off. Appears to be more gunk and buildup towards the front of the head, indicating excess blow by from those valves.

I will get the driver's side valve cover off tomorrow.

Looking for opinions on what to do next. Spin it over, check compression and watch valve action? Just go ahead and pull the heads?

I'd like to fix it without pulling the heads but if they have to come off, I have plenty of time to do it. I could also just pull the engine, but I would have to borrow an engine hoist and get a helper.

Pics of passenger side head. One of the injectors was wet when I pulled it out.
 

renjaminfrankln

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renjaminfrankln

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franklin2

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The chuffing noise is caused by the exhaust valves not sealing very well. It's hard to make a determination by the video.

But what you can do since you have the valve covers off, is take the rocker arms off, then grab the valve springs/top of the valves and wiggle them back and forth and see how much play you have in the valve guides. It's best to check this with the springs off, but if you take the springs off you need to make sure the piston is up on that cylinder so the valves won't fall into the cylinder.

Some of these engines have bad valve guide wear, and it can get so bad the valve doesn't seat always and seal off, causing a chuffing noise in the exhaust.
 

CBRF3

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I want to point out something often overlooked I just had same thing changed heads and all even with new heads new head gaskets and new iconel valves and I had everything done perfectly at machine shop by the book same thing still turned out to be the lifters i have 2 lifters pumping up and not oiling the valve rocker correctly and causing the tapping noise. I can leave truck set for a week or so and the thing barely wants to start rattles and slobbers like crazy then comes out of it yet if let it only set 2-3 days or so is fine but still has the chuffing and a odd slobber at highway speeds and I bought a new set of lifters and will be swapping them out soon I barely drive my truck so its kinda on back burner.

I want to point out I got 3 cylinders that barely get oil for first 3 minutes of running with valve covers off and my oil pressure is around 45psi and then they start oiling and stop tapping this was how i diagnosed was lifters as the oil fed to the rockers comes from the lifters thru the push rods I checked all push rods and theyre good so leaves me with lifters as the culprit.
 

franklin2

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Ever try Rislone? That stuff works well to unstick tapping lifters. But you do have to drive it a couple of weeks with it in the oil.
 

CBRF3

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Have you ever overheated your truck or is your oil cooler not working correctly if oil temps get to high it will damage the lifters this is what happened to me electric cooling fans and they kick on around 210f I found out the hard way using the factory oil cooler that is cooled by coolant my oil temps got 275f+ while coolant temp was around 210f-225f so I added a bypass oil filter system and a large transmission oil cooler in the front grill now oil temps never go over 245f when towing which is a big upgrade. That high oil temp and age is what damaged my lifters I am 99% certain of this everything else is good and new now literally just rebuilt entire engine pistons rings everything all bearings heads and head gaskets
 

CBRF3

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as for rislone I am just replacing the lifters everything else is new in the engine so why not change it out also and I plan to drop a torgue cam in if type4 ever gets access to them again I got 2 cams ready to ship to him and cash in hand ready to go.
 

renjaminfrankln

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The chuffing noise is caused by the exhaust valves not sealing very well. It's hard to make a determination by the video.

But what you can do since you have the valve covers off, is take the rocker arms off, then grab the valve springs/top of the valves and wiggle them back and forth and see how much play you have in the valve guides. It's best to check this with the springs off, but if you take the springs off you need to make sure the piston is up on that cylinder so the valves won't fall into the cylinder.

Some of these engines have bad valve guide wear, and it can get so bad the valve doesn't seat always and seal off, causing a chuffing noise in the exhaust.

So all of the gunk in the cylinder head can be traced back to the #1 exhaust valve. The guide is worn and you get some side to side play. All of the other valves are nice and tight.

Wes gave me a tip, pull the rockers off, put the injectors back in and blow compressed air in the glow plug hole. All of my cylinders held pressure just fine except for #1, air could be heard coming through the valve.

Unfortunately looks like its time for a valve job. Now gotta figure out if I pull the engine or do them in the truck. The engine is already mostly undressed so it might be easier at this point to do them in the truck. But if I pull the engine out I can get some other stuff done.
 

HITACHI

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So all of the gunk in the cylinder head can be traced back to the #1 exhaust valve. The guide is worn and you get some side to side play. All of the other valves are nice and tight.

Wes gave me a tip, pull the rockers off, put the injectors back in and blow compressed air in the glow plug hole. All of my cylinders held pressure just fine except for #1, air could be heard coming through the valve.

Unfortunately looks like its time for a valve job. Now gotta figure out if I pull the engine or do them in the truck. The engine is already mostly undressed so it might be easier at this point to do them in the truck. But if I pull the engine out I can get some other stuff done.


Hi

Normally I would follow the trouble shooting tree in manual.
I would of troubleshoot your engine before taking it apart .
Cutting the fuel to each injector listening to the noise will pin point what cylinder is the issue ..

If you pull the injectors then use a rubber tipped air gun and put it in injector hole a pressure the cyl ..
if the piston or rings is bad then you will hear the air going into the oil pan and you will hear it coming around the push tubes ..

If you think you have a worn clyinder cut open your oil filter .
Cut out section
Squeeze the oil out in a bench vise
Spread oil filter section out and look for micro pieces of aluminum .

Your oil temp should run 30 degrees hoter then normal collant temp .
 

IDIBRONCO

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Unfortunately looks like its time for a valve job. Now gotta figure out if I pull the engine or do them in the truck. The engine is already mostly undressed so it might be easier at this point to do them in the truck. But if I pull the engine out I can get some other stuff done.
If you're going to do one head, you might as well do the other one. That way you won't be doing it again in a few months if a guide in the other head goes bad. From my experience, it's MUCH easier to pull the engine to replace both heads. You also stand a better of not messing up a head gasket when the engine's on a stand. Plus you'll be able to do the other things that you mentioned to the engine.
 

renjaminfrankln

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If you're going to do one head, you might as well do the other one. That way you won't be doing it again in a few months if a guide in the other head goes bad. From my experience, it's MUCH easier to pull the engine to replace both heads. You also stand a better of not messing up a head gasket when the engine's on a stand. Plus you'll be able to do the other things that you mentioned to the engine.

I'm definitely pulling both of them and taking to a machine shop for cleaning + new guides, seals, lapping, whatever it needs. I'm not quite there yet but i'll take advice on what to have them do, and what not to have them do. I know decking the heads is a no-no, leave the stainless freeze plugs in. I don't have a shop in mind yet, I know a local diesel shop and I was planning to call and ask who they send their stuff to.

FWIW my driver's side head was fine and the cam is in great shape. Rockers all look good. Just the #1 cyl exhaust valve guide is sloppy.
 

IDIBRONCO

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leave the stainless freeze plugs in.
I assume that you're talking about the plugs in the mounting surface of the heads. Removing them (plus the matching ones in the block) are the biggest part of the 7.3 cooling mod. Then buy some head gaskets from Wes with the holes punched in them in the right spots and you've got it done.
 

renjaminfrankln

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I assume that you're talking about the plugs in the mounting surface of the heads. Removing them (plus the matching ones in the block) are the biggest part of the 7.3 cooling mod. Then buy some head gaskets from Wes with the holes punched in them in the right spots and you've got it done.

Thanks. I read up on that a little bit, just figure i'd cross that bridge when I get to it. My plan now is to tear everything down to the point where i'm ready to send the heads out and fix everything, then call Wes and take notes. And buy whatever improvements I can.. I am definitely picking up his glow plug wiring harness and setting up a pushbutton - mine was a hot mess, my factory GP controller was melted by the turbo and I chucked all of that in the trash.
 
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