Hopefully that'll grab some attention. My engine has always had a
little bit of a ticking noise to it, but for the last month or so, it's
been worse. It's rhythmic with engine RPMs (as RPMs go up, the
frequency goes up). I normally run 87 octane, but Tuesday night filled
up with 89 and tonight I poured in a 20 oz. bottle of Techron. Doesn't
seem to be any better yet. I considered that it might be an exhaust
leak, but it seems to be coming from the engine area.
When I'm "coasting" I can't really hear it. Under load, I hear it loud
and clear. Typically accelerating on flats or holding speed uphill.
My gas mileage has also been poorer than I think it should be. I'm
getting 13 MPG *at best* in town, and am hard-pressed to get over 16.5
at 70-75 MPH. I used to be able to pull 17-18 at those highways speeds.
Last September (21,000 miles ago), when I was at the dealer for the
dreaded ping, they replaced the cap, rotors and wires with OEM parts.
They also re-indexed the distributor, as it was 5 degrees off, and
flashed the PCM. My Autolite 3923s are about 15 months old (July
2000). Yes, I'm sure they've been in there too long, though I pulled
one last summer and it looked good.
At Daktoberfest, Jim Knox thought he heard a misfire when I had it in
Neutral and got the revs up.
2 weeks ago, I pulled the TB and gave it a good cleaning. I did look
for oil inside the intake manifold, but didn't see a large quantity,
just a film, which I understand is normal.
So, here's my list of things I'm going to do/replace (hopefully this
weekend). What else should I put in here?
Cap
Rotor
Wires
Plugs (3923s again)
Clean air filter (K&N cone)
Would it be worth pulling and cleaning the fuel injectors? What's the
procedure for this, and do I need a special socket?
I really, really, really do not want to bend over and pay the dealer to
look at this. I'm well out of warranty at this point. I want to do as
much as I can myself before resorting to a dealer visit. Is it possible
that my belly pan gasket is only very slightly leaking, not enough for
oil to come in? Valve lifters?
-- -andy andylevy@yahoo.com Maintainer, DML FAQ - http://www.dakota-truck.net/faq/ http://home.twcny.rr.com/andylevy/dakota/ '99 CC 4x4 318 auto
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