Hmmmm... well I replaced the passenger side manifold bolts this morning. Except 2 that just appeared to be in great shape. Firs question.. is there any down side to using a regular grade 5 bolt instead of the "manifold bolts" that you buy at the parts store or dealership? Also, it still makes the noise. I dont think as bad as before, and I am certain that it doesnt take as long to go away. I am guessing that there is probably pretty much no gaskets left. There was only 1 bolt on the passenger side that appeared "not tight" compared to almost every one on the drivers side that seemed nowhere near spec tight. I dunno.. I am going to drop it off at my mechanic some night this week and let them listen to it the next morning. Not real worried at this point. Wife still seems to want me to get a new or newer truck in the spring instead of rebuilding this one. May be a long term project truck. ugh...

 

Ok...now while it does appear to be better than it was, I had it running and noticed there is a VERY tiny small leak of antifreeze that manages to find it's way down right behind the harmonic balancer which of course is directly below the water pump...which is original a well. I can't nail the source of this sound down directly no matter what I do...can a water pump make a knocking type sound if starting to go out?

 

I haven't known of any to make a knocking sound, rather a loud whirring or rocks in a bottle sound sorta.
On the leak that might be coming from between the timing chain cover and block, pretty common on theses engines.

 

water pumps go bad....

If you love the truck by all means fix it if the frame is good. those are the weak point of the truck.

Look on the seep hole of the water pump and see if its leaking if so replace the pump... simple job

beings the exhaust manifold bolts were loose I'll bet you need to pull the manifolds and clean the mating surfaces and pop for some new gaskets...simple job should take a couple hours...or a mechanic

 

I know they go bad I was just saying I've never heard one knocking before.

 

LOL.. YEP! Should take a couple hours, for a mechanic who knows what he is diong, done it before... jobs always go faster that way. Hell it took me all weekend..well, I didnt work nonstop by any means.. just to pull the old ones and put new bolts in. Although I knokw it would go twice as fast the 2nd time around. Question.. is using just regular grade 5 bolts ok to use, or should I go get a set of actual manifold bolts? The originals looked like they had some type of crush washer on them? Probably better than just a regular flat washer but I just wanted to tighten everything up since half of them were loose. I did manage to snap one off.. the 2nd from the back, passenger side, the very end of it must be stuck way deep in the hole, so I just put a little shorter bolt in it, seemed to work for now. I think you are right though. I started her last night so I could haul an old headboard from the house, out to the burn pile, she is much better than before.. but a little knock tick whatever is still there. I put her away in my new shop, which right now is empty (havent moved all my stuff over from my old shop yet) so things echo in there and when I pulled it in, I couldnt hear even the slightest tick. I cant seem to trace down where the antifreeze is originating from, it is such a tiny bit I just cant see where it starts. Probably going to leave it as it is for a while. My wife and I have been talking. Im going to drive it every now and then just to keep things moving, lubed up etc.. Plus harvest will be here before long, and I will be driving it a couple miles every day at least over to my dads house. Im going to drive it till its up to temp though every time. Other than that, I am going to get a new or newer truck in the spring, at the same time, going to start buying all the parts to restore my 94. I still think the hardest part will be finding a box. Figure out for sure whats up with the knocking sound, and depending.. either rebuild the engine... which if I do she may get a few power mods.... if the engine is ok and it is in fact just a exhaust leak, going to put some headers on and new duals out the back and leave the engine alone for the time being. I like the fact that its all original. Anyway, thats the plan. SO, she is going to take a little break here for a bit, and then will be undergoing a major transition to bring her back to as close to new as she can get. She has stuck with me for 18 years. I bought her right before my daughter was born, been through a lot. Lots of sentimental value here, sounds crazy but it just wouldnt be the same around here if my ol truck wasnt around. I cant simply just let her go..and not going to . Anyway, thats where we stand right now.

 

Grade 5 is fine and use Lock Washers

sometimes a anti-freeze leak can be from the hoses... especially when sitting.

Easiest to get under the truck with a flashlight when cold and look for the green tracking and follow it...you'll see where its coming from

 

For coolant leak, you can get a chemical that goes into the radiator. This chemical shows up under uv light. The uv flashlight at autozone looked too cheaply made, so I bought decent looking one from amazon and bought the small bottle from autozone.
I bought it to look for oil leak, then found out my major oil leak is from the oil pan gasket which I want to replace but still can't get the resolve to begin. When I find myself buying a bottle jack, I'll know, lol.

 

I just wanted to say thanks for the info guys, I went from a purolater junk filter from my last oil change, so I changed it the other day with mobile 1 synthetic and a k&n filter and I no longer get knocking on start up, and I just rolled 190,000 miles

 

Weird, but mine seems to be much better on the cooler mornings, started it thursday morning, didnt make a sound.