Engine noises

Does it sound like something is grinding when you try to start it?

This guide will help

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-noises

As far as the power, has the check engine light come on? Have you checked the catalytic converter to see if it is plugged?

Yes, it does sound like a grind.

The engine light is on, and no I've never checked the catylatic converter. Where part is that?

It sounds like either the teeth are bad on the starter or the flywheel. That would make the noise when you try to start it and it would be loud, You will need to remove the starter.

As far as the light, take the vehicle to a nationally recognized parts store and have them scan it to see what is causing the light to come on. Most do it for free.

The catylatic converter is part of the exhaust system. It is under the car. Sometimes when they are plugged, they will glow red hot, so check under the vehicle at night after driving it.

Let me know what you find and if you have other questions.

Joe

When engine is cold and you start the truck, immediately following the start, a loud clanking noise can be heard for up to 2 seconds. Is the starter not retracting properly or is there another issue?

That is 233000 miles that you are hearing. All the bearing have excessive clearance worn into them and all the oil drains down overnight. When you first start it these spaces have no ol in them and that creats a knocking. Once the oil pressure builds up, which takes a lot longer now, the noises quiet down. the engine is tellingyou that it doesn't have a lot of life left. You could help it by putting in a bottle of very thick oil treatment like the old STP oil treatment. There are some other brands also.

It's not an engine noise like rod bearings or lifters. I know those noises. I really can't think of a way to describe it. I am almost ready to record it on a video and post it somewhere asking someone to identify this noise!

Best way to describe it is a marble gets shot against something merrymaking and ricochets off and hits something else metallic.

It sounds like it could be the starter.

To start off I was driving the truck around every day for about a month. The starter went out. So I parked it. Decided to roll it off to move it. Ran fine. Let it sit for about 2 weeks and rolled it off again it is making a horrible grinding noise around the starter/flywheel I went and got a new starter and put it on. It will not start with the key for some reason acts like the battery is weak but it's not. It will start by rolling off but still makes the grinding noise? I need help asap. Thanks for any advice.

I would want to check starter teeth and flywheel teeth, to see if they engage properly. Do you have a flywheel inspection cover that you can remove? When you had the old starter out, could you check the flywheel teeth?

Give me a second and I'll post starter wiring circuit. You have to be sure the battery has a full charge and the battery connections are good. Do your other electricals work ok?

Here is starter wiring. Any testing at the starter, make sure tranny is out of gear, and the parking brake is set. Block the wheels.

Sometimes when i take off after truck sits for awhile it has a loud roaring sound. Transmission seems to be shifting okay. The sounds usually stops at about thirty mph.

Does the sound get louder and quieter as you turn left and right?

No just constant load sound almost sounds like a eighteen wheeler taking off in first.

Hmmm I am stumped then. My Blazer does this too, but in its case it is coming from the cooling fan, which is a clutch driven system. Your truck's cooling fan is electric, so I doubt that is causing it.

I have been to two mechanics and they said everything was fine it usually stops when shifting from second to third about thirty mph. Other than that drives perfect. Thanks

spark plug blew out. changed it, then on freeway started making noise under hood lost power. I took it to a repair shop and was told the problem was camshaft. do you have any ideas what went wrong?

The only way a plug can blow out is for the thread to be so worn the plug will not tighten up fully. that is if the plug was tight in the first place. The problem will be fixing the thread in the head, you can get it re coiled, that is fitting a thread insert, but the correct way is to remove the head as failing to do this may allow the swarf from drilling and re-threading entering the cylinder. i fail to see how a camshaft can cause this problem.

I look up the cooling fan in "Prodemand" to look for maybe some helpful information.

I saw 'electric' and 'hydraulic' cooling fans listed when I did the cooling fan search.

Any idea on which you might have?

The Medic

This was a pretty common problem in those Ford engines. They make a kit that installs a heli-coil pretty easily without any ill effect. I have done a few of them. The kit is a bit expensive so it may be cheaper to find a shop that has the kit and just pay them to repair it. I usually charge about one hour per plug.