Ok rant bit first......
I’ve had a few careers. IT engineer, tattooist, nurse (for a long time!!!) and now custom motorcycle builder and enthusiast.
I’m also a biker and know hundreds of people and have thousands of acquaintances, therefor by default I know loads of vehicle mechanics. Now I mean no disrespect to any of my friends,mates or for that matter any mechanic, BUT.....
You bring me any bike and given 10 minutes or so and I’ll give you a pretty good idea of what it’s problems are and how to fix them, no training, just plain old common sense and experience gained over 4 or 5 years of spannering and 30 odd years riding.....
So how come I can take a box standard 2011 Transit to 10 mechanics and every one diagnose ‘the knock’ with a different problem??????
I mean really how fckng hard can it be??? You’ve been trained, you’ve got 20 years experience, the issue isn’t intermittent and I can describe it perfectly, when it began, why it began, what was done....they can here ‘the knock’ with their own ears and see the side effects with their own eyes.... yet every one will give a different answer....even Ford garages who make the thing!!!!
Seriously is it just me? Do I just know the dullards? Or is it just Diesel engines?
It’s been serviced every 15k miles.
It had done 110k when I bought it from the original owner for £2500 (no I don’t care if I paid too much, or if you got one cheaper, I liked it, I baught it, it was off a mate and it had the knock when I bought it, no I’m not stupid, no I’m not a trained mechanic, but I bought it as it has zero rust and it is 100% straight, never broke down, never not started, known the van since it was new).
It ran low on oil once, the guy drive a mile and a half to the shop and topped up with decent quality oil. The knock immediately went away. 5k later it returned.
It’s not a huge knock, just a steady knock at low revs. Goes away(ish) after 2k rpm.
It drives fine.
Accelerates well.
Holds its speed.
Starts perfectly.
No bad smoke even from a cold start.
But it does knock.
I’ve checked the crank pulley by removing the belts, still knocks.
Removed the crank pulley, still knocks.
Cylinder 3 has a oil residue at the diesel injector, but it’s by no means pssng oil or diesel out.
Great mpg.
85bhp might not be fast, but it’s] does what I want.
I’ve done 2 oil changes, with good fully synthetic oil.
Knock hasn’t got any better or worse in 3k miles.
I should forget about it, but being mechanicaly minded and sympathetic and a bit of ocd, ‘the knock’ is doing my napper in.
I’ve checked for error codes. Non. Not one.
Please please please help!!! I have mental health problems as it is, hence retired nurse and bike builder.
So I’m begging you, please give me some kind of idea of what it might/could/is/etc.... be.
Some say it’s a diesel knock....but that shouldn’t go away under acceleration or speed or rpm.
It could be the big end bearings, but surely after over the 3k miles I’ve driven it ‘the knock’ has got no louder, no quieter, no change in pitch.
‘The knock’ seems to be coming from the bottom of the engine, but that could just be my ears.
When I take of the oil filler cap it breaths heavy.....so it might have a blocked breather.....but I’ve no idea where the breather pipes are????
Yeh I could buy a recon engine, but £1000 for one which comes with bugger all attached is daylight robbery. They swap for your engine, strip it, clean it, flat the surfaces, rebor the cylinders, lash on gaskets and then charge a grand!!!
I could buy a used engine, but that could be even worse.....yeh I’ve seen saw dust in engines to make them quiet.
In short....someone please help with
1. Explaining why Diesel engine issues are so difficult to diagnose.
2. Give a reasonable guess as to what ‘the knock’ might be and how to test for that issue (yeh without stripping and rebuilding the entire engine)
3. Tell me that their are actually decent mechanics in the world, who don’t scratch their heads and then talk for 30 minutes on what it could be, but end by saying ‘I’m not sure thiugh"
4. Say a pray for me, cos I swair this is ‘driving’ me insane.
Ask any questions you like, I’ll answer as best I can.
If you do actually manage to reply to this post, thank you, because most don’t.