Engine knocking, down to my last vehicle!

[TheEquineFencer]

My spare truck just died and I'm down to the F-350 to drive now. I have a 1997 F-350 I bought to fix and use. I bought it knowing the tranny was locked up in gear. I took the ZF apart and found a broken shift fork, replaced it and it shifts fine. When I got it running I found it had a knock in th engine.I do not think it's not a bearing knock, it sounds like it's in the top end or front on the right passenger side. I've pulled the VC off and checked for broken rockers and the like and cannot find anything. I Even bought a stethescope and tried finding the noise to no avail. Iwas so frustrated the other day I held it at WOT for 30 Minutes trying to blow it up and the noise would not get any worse. It runs great, has good oil pressure, no check engine lights. I've tried dropping two cylinders at the time by unplugging the injectors and cannot find which or if it's a single cylinder problem. The guy I got the truck from told me the reason the company he got it from quit driving it was because of the tranny, I was advised of the knock, but for what I have in it it's worth fixing. I just need to know more before I tear the engine down. It sounds almost like a 350 chevy with a loose rocker arm.
I hate to try the local Ford dealer, the last time I took the sister truck to this one I bought around the same time for a dead miss, they told me it needed both VC injector harnesses, two injectors and an IDM, total $2658.58. I told them to put it back together I'd pick it up. After I found this site and found out how the HEUI system worked I found a broken injector wire on #1 for the ground signal between #1 and the IDM, cost $8.30 for the repair! The truck runs a lot better thanks to this site! Drop me a line if you can give me some insight, thanks, Floyd, TheEquineFencer@AOL.com

[nathan]

Did you happen to remove any of the glow plugs to see if the tips burnt off?

[SCUFFY828]

if your noise as you described sounds like a 350 chevy rocker arm loose , sounds to me like you have a lifter ticking to me , if this vehicle has sat for a bit , it may pump up and go way after some driving , if vehicle is running fine drive it , it may be a problem that has to get worse before accurate diag can be done , fuel pressure can also cause a knock in 7.3 but its usualy a pretty loud knock

[ABOBB]

Hey Floyd.. sounds like you are getting good advice, and Scuffy is one of the good ones. I'm not an expert, so I'll leave the diagnostics to him.

Welcome to Powerstroke.org

[SCUFFY828]

thanks aaron , i guess i got you fooled

[TheEquineFencer]

This is a pretty loud knock. I had the door open to my shop and my neighbor drove up outside, 60ft away and asked what was knocking so bad! It's been run a while. Can I pull the pushrods out one cylinder at the time and run it or will it knock the lifters out of the lifter bores?

[SCUFFY828]

Originally Posted by TheEquineFencer

This is a pretty loud knock. I had the door open to my shop and my neighbor drove up outside, 60ft away and asked what was knocking so bad! It's been run a while. Can I pull the pushrods out one cylinder at the time and run it or will it knock the lifters out of the lifter bores?

i wouldnt tar into the motor until further diagnosis had been done , if you have the means , i would run a fuel pressure test first , should be around 55 lbs give or take a few lbs at idle , if that tests good , if it was mine i would cancel each cylinder also one at a time with valve covers off , if noise quits on one cylinder could also be a bad injector , but not bad enough to cause skip, i have seen one injector lean out from being possibly clogged which can cause knock due to lack of fuel in that cylinder , i guess what im getting at is any lack of fuel in any cylinder can cause a knock , if that doesnt help well dig deeper