This being my first diesel truck, it sounds pretty normal to me....like any other diesel I've been in, but I've been reading so much lately about injector problems and engine pinging/knocking that I'm wondering....Yes, mine knocks and pings a little, nothing obnoxious, mostly between 1600-2200 rpms I think, but my thought is just that "diesels do that and its ok." How much knock/ping is normal for a 3rd Gen. diesel engine? ...and why do diesel engines knock/ping the way they do?

thanks,
-d

 

I believe the pinging/ knocking is due at least partialy to their high compression ratio.

 

Mine does the exact same thing. I have been told it is normal. But noone can tell me what normal is and why some do it and some dont.

 

I will take a stab. Diesel engine knock or clatter is caused by the sudden and severe explosion of the fuel injected into the cylinder. With modern injection systems they start the combustion with a small amount of fuel and then inject the rest softening the blow. If your injectors start getting dirty then the "smaller" injection that starts the combustion may not occur so the larger or main injection will cause a "clatter" or "knock" sound on that particular combustion cycle. Stands to reason that if your injectors are getting dirty, so only one big squirt gets injected, then there will be a pronounced knock. This situation shouldn't hurt anything, it will just make your engine sound like a second generation. If left unchecked then it will just get worse until an injector fails. I noticed a slight knock in mine, you could only hear it if the radio was off. I put some Lucas in it and the knock went away.

 

Is Lucas serving the same purpose as the dieselkleen that I run in mine?

-d