Bad Rattling

[geemo]

Hey all its been a long time since I have posted but I am in dire need of help. I just made a very long trip in my Exploder from Indiana to Florida yesterday and I now have a bad rattling sound which I believe to be coming from the engine. On the highway the sound only occurred when I was around 2000-2500 rpm and was not accelerating, i.e. if I started to accelerate the rattling went away instantly. When I got to Florida I drove the truck around a little bit right away and noticed the rattling on a wider range of rpm and it occurred regardless of whether I was accelerating or not. It has had a day now to rest and now it makes the rattling sound intermittently and it is not nearly as loud. It sounds like a small piece of metal jumping around. It is definitely not a heat shield. My worst problem in all of this is I have no access to tools, so I need to figure out how to get it fixed cheaply by a mechanic. Oh yeah every once in a while the engine jerks a bit on accelerating. I hope it is just a bad spark plug. Otherwise the truck is working fine. I am now thinking of taking it somewhere for a tune-up (to get new plugs and wires), hopefully if that is not the problem they will notice whatever it is that is wrong with it. My truck is a '92 4.0 w/151k miles. Thanks.

 

[Road Turtle]

go to a mechanic

At 151,000 miles it could be many things, hopefully not serious. Could be a cracked valve sping or damaged rocker arm. Most good mechanics will probably only charge you somewhere from $25-50 to figure out what it is. If you have a regular mechanic and you like hius work go to him, if not ask somone who lives around you about their mechanic. Good Luck.

 

[Robert Duncan]

From the description, it sounds like pinging. If it is only doing it at part throttle, it could be the EGR components. They get carboned up and need cleaned or replaced every so often.

The EGR comes into play at part throttle. It circulates some exhaust gas into the intake stream to reduce internal combustion temperatures. This helps maximize fuel economy, reduce overheating, and reduce NOx emissions.