mcshooter79
Member
- 36
- 7
- 8
- Location
- Conroe TX/Gainesville FL
OK, so I always wanted a long bed and I took a gamble on one that sold out of Bragg recently. The dash was pulled out and gauges missing but I had guages and there were no other indications that the truck wasn't operational. Spoke to a rep at the lot and he said the truck started and drove, they had moved it around the lot. Based on these facts I took a gamble and decided to try and drive back to FL. When I got to Bragg and started the truck it didn't sounds good, engine had a knock and the idle was generally rough and poor throttle response, so things don't look good. Used a crowbar to listen to the block and the knock seemed to be up top as I couldn't really hear anything in the bottom end. The exhaust had a kind of "pulse" to it, like one cylinder was burning more fuel than the others. I changed the filter in the water separator and put some fresh diesel in it and the engine started to run smoother and had good power and throttle response but the knock and the pulsing didn't go away. When given some throttle in neutral the engine revved smoothly and the knock would almost disappear but when power was applied under load the knock would grow in volume. Drove the truck to a Freightliner truck dealer/shop I was assured by a "Cummins" mechanic who listened to the motor that is was probably just a fuel issue and the motor would hold together and probably run better as the fresh fuel ran through the system.
So to shorten this story, 3 hours into the trip home the engine developed more of a rattle whenever I decelerated and the idle had more "noise". I pulled over and now there was more of a mechanical rattle that could be heard like maybe something in the bottom was letting go.....and then something did. I don't know what it was but something "broke" loose and started making all kinds of racked like things hitting other things. As fast as I could I shut the engine down (about 5 seconds as I was outside and on the passenger side). Couldn't find anything obvious and other than the racket and something obviously being rattle around the engine had continued to run with no other negative indications during that 5 seconds. After being unable to find anything on the outside of the engine that had let go I restarted the engine out of morbid curiosity. Ran it for about 2 seconds with the same results and shut it off.
The truck now sits in wrecker yard in Walterboro SC until I decide what to do with it. I can drive my M931A1 up there and tow it back but do I part it out and scrap the rest or do I try to fix it...that is the question. The truck otherwise seems to be in decent shape asside from needing a little TLC. The transmission shifted positively and smoothly the whole time. The air pump probably has a bad head gasket and I will need to replace the speedometer adapter where it comes out of the transmission but other than that I have no other major mechanical issues. I can do almost anything mechanically but I don't have the equipment to pull out an engine this size (NHC-250). I don't really what it will take to fix it or if it's worth the effort.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
So to shorten this story, 3 hours into the trip home the engine developed more of a rattle whenever I decelerated and the idle had more "noise". I pulled over and now there was more of a mechanical rattle that could be heard like maybe something in the bottom was letting go.....and then something did. I don't know what it was but something "broke" loose and started making all kinds of racked like things hitting other things. As fast as I could I shut the engine down (about 5 seconds as I was outside and on the passenger side). Couldn't find anything obvious and other than the racket and something obviously being rattle around the engine had continued to run with no other negative indications during that 5 seconds. After being unable to find anything on the outside of the engine that had let go I restarted the engine out of morbid curiosity. Ran it for about 2 seconds with the same results and shut it off.
The truck now sits in wrecker yard in Walterboro SC until I decide what to do with it. I can drive my M931A1 up there and tow it back but do I part it out and scrap the rest or do I try to fix it...that is the question. The truck otherwise seems to be in decent shape asside from needing a little TLC. The transmission shifted positively and smoothly the whole time. The air pump probably has a bad head gasket and I will need to replace the speedometer adapter where it comes out of the transmission but other than that I have no other major mechanical issues. I can do almost anything mechanically but I don't have the equipment to pull out an engine this size (NHC-250). I don't really what it will take to fix it or if it's worth the effort.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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