Hello community, I am humbly asking for wisdom and advice.

I have a 1997 f150 that had a bad motor in it. For various reasons it sat for 5 years and I'm now finally getting to work on it.

I bought an engine from a co worker, it came out of a 1996 grand marquis. I heard the engine run. When i bought it a year ago. No noises, ran perfect, only had a cracked front coolant runner. The engine sat on my engine stand without oil that long, i swapped the trucks front cover, Oil pick up tube, oil pan, knock sensor and installed it in the truck.

I got it all buttoned up, new oil and antifreeze. ( Rotated the crank by hand a couple of times a couple of days ago. ) and started it today. For lack of money and resources to test if the engine would start, i used the old gas that was in the tank. (Not what i should have done) it started right away. Died quickly, tried again and it ran without shaking or stumbling.

The issue is that it knocks, almost like a rod bearing. I am freaking out, i am not sure if it is the old fuel or if the engine i got tore itself up.

Any help on this matter is greatly appreciated. I only ran the truck maybe at the most a minute at a time (6 times total throughout the day)to try to narrow what is going on.

Please Help

 

Did you check the oil? Smell gas in it? Does motor have oil psi?

 

I put six quarts of oil in the crankcase. The dummy gauge says i have oil pressure at the flange of the remote oil filter adapter. I did not smell the gas, but may have to double check. Could the old gas be causing the knock?

 

Bad gas would be more of a ping or rattle when throttling up. This sounds like a knock. Get a super clean oil pan and drop the oil. See if there are any metal shavings in it.

Engines shouldn't sit assembled without oil in them. If there is gas in the oil that could be a problem too. While you are waiting for the oil to drain, check the codes on the truck. Were all the cylinders firing?

 

The check engine light was not on while running. the brake/abs light were on. If i drop the pan (i got the front diff and crossmember off) should i open the rod caps to check? Do i have to replace the rod bolts if i do this?

 

I wouldn't mess with the rods just yet. Drop the oil and check first. Also, are you using 5w20?

 

Im betting the engine was not primed with oil before starting.

 

Thank you very much for your responses.

I used 5w30. In the middle of the day i took the fuel pump fuse out and cranked the engine a few times (5 seconds or so each time) to see if i could hear a knock while cranking. It turned over fine no noise, would that been enough to prime it? What should be the correct way to do it?

 

No problem at all.

That's how I would start it. However, assembled engines shouldn't sit with out oil in them. I think something isn't getting oil to it.

I would still drop the oil and look for metal shavings. Then replace with 5w20 and the correct amount. Try priming again and then start the engine. If the problem persists, then yes you should dig into the rods and bearings.

 

Would not hurt to crank longer than 5 sec to primp oil pump. If can put battery charger on crank 30 sec let starter cool down and do that a few times. Then start up and see if it makes noise