My 2001 diesel backfired or so I think. When I cracked it up it immediately made a loud “boom” that seemed to come from under the hood. The local mechanic I had been using said he thought it was a backfire. He said this could blow parts off the engine and that bad injectors could cause this. I asked about repairing this issue and he told me “ its and old truck why don’t you just sell it since you don’t need a truck often”. That’s the reason I keep the “old” truck as I don’t need a truck often enough t warrant buying a new one. I am not afraid to crank it back up. Any help with my issue regarding cause, dangers associated, and solutions would be greatly appreciated.

 

I might be looking for another mechanic! Give the smart guys some time to reply. My 2001 has 45,000 on it, I don't use it often either.

 

Does it keep popping, or was it a one yime thing?

 

This isn't a 1at gen. Is that a 3rd gen? You may get a better response in that section. Welcome to the site!!

 

When I had my 01 when my vp44 was giving up the ghost it would backfire on occasion. Some of the family was behind me while driving through the Eisenhower tunnel on I70. sounded like a howitzer fired and they told me it looked like two to three feet of flame came out the exhaust. Once I got the vp44 replaced never did it again in another 200k + miles. Not saying yours is due to the vp44 going bad but as previously mentioned I would certainly look for another mechanic as previous poster mentioned. Even if it is the vp44 or injectors as your mechanic suggested that is still one heck of a lot less than a new or used truck these days. Injectors should be well under $1k and a vp44 maybe $1200 then you have install on top of that. so perhaps double if you cant do it yourself. Doubt you can find much of a truck for under $2500

On an 01 you should be able to check for codes by turning truck to on/off 3 times leaving it on the third time (not starting it) then watch the odometer should bring up a list of codes if there are any.

 

Your mechanic didn't, by chance, also make you an offer on your "old truck" too did he? You know, just to help you out and get rid if it for you...

 

It did it once. The next day when I cranked it, it sounded like it may have made the noise at a very low volume but not certain. I have not cranked it since because I did not know what damage might occur. The mechanic I had seen told me that he knew of a case where the backfire damaged the engine.

 

Believe 2cd gen. 24v

 

Pull the valve cover and check the cross heads on the valves. I’ve seen this happen before on those engines, and all it does it pop a cross head off. Put it back on and do a valve adjustment, away you go

 

will I need to replace the cross head or should I be able to reuse the one it if it did pop off? Will all the valves need adjusting or just that one?


thanls for the reply

 

If you find this is actually your problem, normally the cross head is still ok. Just want to make sure that the valves move freely, and nothing appears bent. When I’m in there, I usually run a check on all the valves, and if they need adjustments, I do it. It doesn’t take long.

most of the times that I’ve seen this particular issue, is when someone got a little happy with an ether can while trying to start the truck.

 

If it gives codes is there a reference list somewhere? I did connect my code reader to the OBD connector and did not get and codes there

 

Thanks. No ether. The truck did sit for about 2 weeks since the last time I started it but it has sat that long and longer before without this happening.

it has about 360000 miles. The fuel pump had been changed a couple years ago. I haven’t really had to put any mileage on it over the last few years

 

The fuel pump was replaced a few years ago but I haven’t had to really put any mileage on it since then