Another noisy 603 clacking that I'm trying to determine...
 

Hey all,
It's been a while since my last posting...I would like your opinions on my clacking OM603. I've been chasing down so many ticks tacks and clacks that I can't seem to tell what's normal anymore or not.

In any event I have a a clack that occurs at idle 650 to around 1000 rpm where it either goes away or the rest of the noise masks it. I've probed from injector to injector and at the pressure valves and can't discern where its coming from. I just replaced the seals and o-rings on the IP due to a minor leak at #5, corrected that, but the clack persists. This has been on going for a long while and still the clack is there. To eliminate the general condition here is what has been done so far over time:
1 Rebuilt the injectors added bosio nozzles took them to a diesel shop and had them balanced at 135 pop tested etc.
2 replaced the #6 line due to a small crack at the IP side of the flange.
3 Pressure valves, new copper seals and viton O-rings, did not disturb anything inside the IP, actually mine came out super easy and R&R was easy. torqued to FSM specs.
4 have run numerous purges over the years and sounds like a Singer then...clacks afterwards on diesel
5 New fuel filters 2 weeks ago

Overall she's in good running shape and my clacking is relatively minor in the larger scheme of things.

What has not been done and IMO may be a cause for the noise is:
1 Re-balance injectors after bedding in. From what I've read here bedding in can throw the pressures of by 2-3 in each injector.

2 Compression test (I have a minor oil leak at #1 bottom corner of the head and timing cover, known weakness) so #1 could be lower in compression than the other 5. Time for a new head gasket though I dread the workload.

3 Have not checked the lifters, could be a tick, but I can't tell anymore :rolleyes:

I have an mpeg linked, let me know if the sound gives you some idea of what I should trouble shoot next. Ideas and suggestions always welcomed :D
TIA
Bill

http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k238/75coupered/Benze/?action=view&current=PIC_0009.flv

Interesting, I looked at an '87 300D a couple weeks ago that sounded similar. I thought it sounded rather, "agricultural" compared to my 190D but now I'm thinking maybe thats normal...

My theory with that car (had I bought it) was to run a couple cans of diesel purge through and then just run the stink out of it on the highway and see what happened to the noise...

my moneys on the hydraulic lifters. a tsb on this issue. need replace you lifters with new updated ones

Thought they all clacked and that it was normal. Yours maybe a little louder than others I have heard. Timing related?

did you bleed the air out of the fuel lines? thats how i got rid of my clacking noise. simply take a 14mm banjo wrench (i think thats what theyre called) and slowly undo one of the hard fuel line nuts, preferably near the valve cover. loosen it slowly until the fuel starts to seep out. the engine will start to buck. if you see tiny air bubbles coming out, thats the air you want to purge. just leave it for a minute or two. dont back out the nut all the way to the point where fuel is spurting out.

also, i changed to synthetic oil and that seemed to deaden any residual clacking noise i had. perhaps its all in my head, but at idle, i have never heard it as quiet as now.

Your issue is an injector knock. It's got nothing to do with lifters.

The '86 did identically the same thing when the identical line was replaced. It took 500 miles for it to finally disappear. Air in the line must have something to do with it.

If it's not air in the line, and everything else has been eliminated, a bad prechamber would cause the same thing.

It is the injectors
 

I just now finished rebuilding / balancing the injectors on my car. Your car sounds like mine did before I did the job.

You might just have one bad injector. Cleaning the nozzles with brass tools and re-balancing should fix it.

Thanks Bob, I'll check for air in the lines and bleed as suggested, since its all be unbuttoned so many times there likely is air in the system.

Brian,
sounds like it's air or possibly a bad injector. I'll try bleeding the system to purge the air, and drive it some more to see if it goes away, or as other have mentioned I may have to pull the injectors back out and have them balanced yet again, otherwise it may be deeper as in the prechambers.

For those of you that heard the clip, how "bad" did it sound? Brian I'm sure yours sounds like a Singer and surely other have smooth running machines, how does mine compare?

Regards

It's just a light injector knock. You could drive it forever in that condition if it didn't bother you.

When it's working properly, it'll disappear. It could be a bad injector, but you mentioned that they were recently replaced, so I discounted that. But, did anyone check the spray patterns...........?

Thanks Brian, With respect to checking the injectors I had a local diesel shop balance and pop test them, they said that the misting was good, but then again this was about 1k miles ago so now that they've been in use it may be workthwhile pulling them again and haveing them tested. Overall its more of an OCD problem on my end, I would just like to remove the errant clack but I can live with it.

With respect to the head gasket oil leak at #1 where the head and timing cover meet, how bad of an issue is this over time? Anyone experience the same failure and if so how long did it last before neededing to dive in and replace the head gasket?

Thanks
Bill

My concern is that the statement is given by people who don't know a proper pattern from a stream. It takes a very skilled technician to make a determination for pattern and I seriously doubt the claims made by most of these shops.

Whats one to do?
 

Can anyone recommend a good Bosch shop in south florida? I agree with Brian that it's hard to trust most shops, but since I can't do it myself for lack of experience...whats one to do?

Your 603 sounds just like my 603. The clacking in my car ( 86 300sdl ) is a little louder in the morning or during just a 35 mph drive across town. After a good 20 mile drive at 70 mph on the Interstate my clacking is gone. It returns the next cold start. I figure it's just the injectors and I haven't done a diesel purge in over a year. My injectors are the original and they have 115,000 miles on them. I realize it is probably time for new ones, but the power and fuel mileage is still excellent, I don't blow a lot of smoke, and they clack a little. Someday I will get around to changing them.

Clacking
 

Your engine sounds exactly like mine. I recently rebuilt my engine and a new set of lifters was added after the first 1,000 miles and the engine quieted down noticeably to me, just did not sound as sloppy with the new lifters.
I repeatedly get the clacking noise. I purge or bleed the air from the suspected line and run the car and it goes away until the next time it is started and run. I changed the fuel lines at the pump and used the OEM type clamps which seemed to lessen the amount of air getting into the IP. I have yet to change the line under the car at the tank. I still get air into the system. I plan on changing the other line soon and maybe that will solve the air in the fuel problem.:)

Eddie E.

87 300SDL 321K miles