Well, I'm stymied.

Tracked the knock to the rear/#5 cylinder by stethoscope, and confirmed by killing injectors. Loosen injector line, knock went away, tighten it, it came back, etc.

After a couple times doing this, the knock went away entirely, with the injector firing or not. I have not been able to reproduce it since.

I'm seriously scratching my head over this one. Long since past time to be taking it to a pro, and I will probably still snap up that spare engine for peace of mind.

__________________
617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

Intuition is a heck of a thing. And you have questioning that motor for sometime.

Run it until it blows though. I have a gas truck that's had a lower end knock for 50,000 miles.

Get that spare engine just in case but otherwise keep on trucking.

If you have the time remove the injector and see if there's something rattling about in the pre-chamber - sometimes things fall apart in there (don't forget the new heat shield). At least you know which cylinder it is - that's a step closer to a solution...

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Thanks folks. I'm 90% sure I'll jump on the other motor and run this one until it dies, but this one just sounds like HELL. At a certain throttle setting, it rattles like tin cans full of rocks in a clothes dryer. Light throttle it's fine, heavy throttle it's fine, mid throttle(right at cruising power level) and it sounds TERRIBLE. Really embarrassing to drive, sounding like it's knocking like crazy. All the worse because when I first started driving it, it sounded so sweet.

If the pro can't figure it out I'm dumping it, new motor time.

__________________
617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

I really want to know what it is. Lol.

Did you delete the engine oil cooler in this installation? I'd really like to have a postmortem inspection to determine a cause before replacing old engine with new, or at least re-install the oil cooler. If the location next to the radiator won't work, you could try a 124 oil cooler, which goes in front of the driver's side front wheel.

I also think there is a good possibility you've got a fuel problem. Would be worth moving the injector to see if the problem follows. If it does not, I'd rebuild that delivery valve, and after that swap in a known good injection pump.

I really like the ideas of checking the oil filter for metal, pulling the lower pan to look for metal, and sending a used engine oil sample off for lab analysis for about $40 or so.

__________________
Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

Stock oil cooler is in place. This issue has been going on for a couple oil changes, I've seen no evidence of metal contamination in the oil filter.

Thanks folks. A UOA may be happening, and I'm lucky enough to have someone local to me with 35+ years experience with Mercedes diesels. His name is Jan and I thought it completely appropriate that he has a very thick German accent. As soon as I have time I'll be dropping it off, but for now I kind of need to keep it around and mobile until I get the GTO rolling again.

As an aside, anyone have an '04 GTO differential for sale?

Too many irons in the fire!

__________________
617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

Don't let that low mileage engine get away...

__________________
Current Stable

• 380SL (diesel)
• Corvette C5
• Manx
• Baja Bug
• F350 Powerstroke
• Auburn Boattail Speedster replica

I'd love to jump on it, just to have a spare motor sitting around. Right now I need to be extremely mindful of both storage space and pennies.

__________________
617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iKBWj8PZ00

Video of the new motor running. Talked myself into it, going to pull the trigger and be done.

I've spent more $$ than this motor costs chasing this issue, and in the time it's taken me I could have earned enough money to buy four of these motors.

I should be able to resell known good parts off the old motor and recoup some of the cost.

Thanks everyone.

__________________
617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

How about the old one?

A few years ago I worked on a small ( 1L ) 3 cyl Mitsubishi diesel on a welder / generator that made a lot of noise ( nailing ) and was rough running. Loosened the injector lines until I found the bad cylinder, tightened it up, less noise. Did this a few times and the noise was completely gone.

Even though the engine was running, there was too much air in the system to open the injector much. The air was acting as a spring and it probably had a sticking delivery valve ( check valve ) in the injector pump.

The gen was then run 12 HR a day for 2 years. At this point blow by is so great it needs rebuilt but noting has blown up yet.

I will probably rob some parts off it, then decide what to do from there. Do a post-mortem, sell some important bits, sell it complete with the appropriate caveats, scrap it, who knows.

Have done that several times while revving, trying to localize the pinging to a single cylinder. Problem is across multiple cylinders and there has been no change.

__________________
617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

Oh I meant a video of the sound.

I just went through selling off my old motor in bits. You can use eBay global shipping and ship to a center in the U.S. I went outside this and shipped internationally to countries they don't cover.

There's a buyer in India named manjurod I would not recommend dealing with. I'm pretty understanding of different walks of life. But he kind of drove me nuts.

There's the obvious stuff like #1 fuel injector line, starter bracket, Cam with towers and gear and whatever you would need after throwing a timing chain, etc.

But I was also surprised. I think I brought in $1800 and I'm a little over half way there...

I just have a box in the shop with the stuff. It was a pain to list it all. I eventually scrapped the block. Hoping someone grabs this head.

Here's my last 30 days.



See the alternator harness? $20? Stacking penny's normally isn't my thing.

So yeah, I bought a complete motor for $500. Been reluctant to tell anyone or there won't be any used motors left.

Woops!

Yeah I'll get it posted.

I had no clue there'd be any money in selling bits and pieces, although you're right, it is stacking pennies.

__________________
617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap