87 Dodge Ram Van 318 Valve cover pressure leak and loud knock

From : sparkyj

Q: hi yall i found this great dodge group and have been a dodge ram van owner for a while. i have had this motor rebuilt 318 and it has about 20m miles on it. i have noticed a slight knock that has gotten progressively worse over the past few months. first i thought maybe a lifter was acting up in the middle of the drivers side. then thought it was a leaky exhaust manifold gasket. i checked the exhaust leaking and yes there is a slight pip pip leak coming from the back cross- over pipe that looks like it goes to a mono feed to a smog type pump. this is a problem that could be fixed i think. there is also that solenoid that sits on top of the intake that has 2 nuts holding it down that appears to have air coming out. wrong direction right. then near what seems like the center of the head exhaust air is spitting out of the valve cover. and what is with that weird hole that protrudes down below the middle of the intake mani in the center of the head im a ford guy. that area seems a little airy too. does the fact that pressure is built up in the valve area indicate a failing valve guide broken valve or stem seal or this knock is really loud now so much that i dont want to turn it over any more. and what i thought might be the old raspy exhaust leak has a more grinding tapping sound. the noise is coming from the top of the engine sounds like within the head. thanks guys this is my daily driver. gotta get this sussed out and take my daughter to school every day. .

Replies:

From : nosey

there is also that solenoid that sits on top of the intake that has 2 nuts holding it down that appears to have air coming out. wrong direction right. i need a better description of this one. all i can think of here is the vacuum amplifier but theres no electrical connection to it. egr valve -- ken .

From : bob m

sparkyj wrote hi yall i found this great dodge group and have been a dodge ram van owner for a while. i have had this motor rebuilt 318 and it has about 20m miles on it. i have noticed a slight knock that has gotten progressively worse over the past few months. first i thought maybe a lifter was acting up in the middle of the drivers side. then thought it was a leaky exhaust manifold gasket. i checked the exhaust leaking and yes there is a slight pip pip leak coming from the back cross- over pipe that looks like it goes to a mono feed to a smog type pump. this is a problem that could be fixed i think. there is also that solenoid that sits on top of the intake that has 2 nuts holding it down that appears to have air coming out. wrong direction right. then near what seems like the center of the head exhaust air is spitting out of the valve cover. and what is with that weird hole that protrudes down below the middle of the intake mani in the center of the head im a ford guy. that area seems a little airy too. does the fact that pressure is built up in the valve area indicate a failing valve guide broken valve or stem seal or this knock is really loud now so much that i dont want to turn it over any more. and what i thought might be the old raspy exhaust leak has a more grinding tapping sound. the noise is coming from the top of the engine sounds like within the head. thanks guys this is my daily driver. gotta get this sussed out and take my daughter to school every day. damn! 20million miles i think it should be making some noise at that mileage. .

From : bigironram

hi yall i found this great dodge group and have been a dodge ram van owner for a while. i have had this motor rebuilt 318 and it has about 20m miles on it. i have noticed a slight knock that has gotten progressively worse over the past few months. first i thought maybe a lifter was acting up in the middle of the drivers side. then thought it was a leaky exhaust manifold gasket. i checked the exhaust leaking and yes there is a slight pip pip leak coming from the back cross- over pipe that looks like it goes to a mono feed to a smog type pump. this is a problem that could be fixed i think. the smog pump plumbing can be a real pita. if its leaking somewhere upstream of the one way valves itll sound like exhaust under the hood. there is also that solenoid that sits on top of the intake that has 2 nuts holding it down that appears to have air coming out. wrong direction right. i need a better description of this one. all i can think of here is the vacuum amplifier but theres no electrical connection to it. then near what seems like the center of the head exhaust air is spitting out of the valve cover. if youve got abnormal positive pressure in the valve cover youve either got pcv problems or excessive crankcase pressure typically not good broken rings and what is with that weird hole that protrudes down below the middle of the intake mani in the center of the head mopar design no problems there. im a ford guy. that area seems a little airy too. does the fact that pressure is built up in the valve area indicate a failing valve guide broken valve or stem seal or this knock is really loud now so much that i dont want to turn it over any more. and what i thought might be the old raspy exhaust leak has a more grinding tapping sound. the noise is coming from the top of the engine sounds like within the head. thanks guys this is my daily driver. gotta get this sussed out and take my daughter to school every day. i could be wrong since i cant hear it myself but it sounds like the engine is ready for another overhaul. if youre local to me and need some replacement hard parts i think i still have some old 318 stuff around. if youre ready for some adventure i have a 318 magnum engine needing an overhaul. .

From : bigironram

there is also that solenoid that sits on top of the intake that has 2 nuts holding it down that appears to have air coming out. wrong direction right. i need a better description of this one. all i can think of here is the vacuum amplifier but theres no electrical connection to it. egr valve -- ken i dont know of a single year model that ever had electrical connections to the valve itself. the more elaborate ones think 4bbl typically and post 83 2bbl had timers and such mounted on the firewall. those would also have a cts charge temperature sensor at the rear of the intake manifold maybe thats it but iirc no vacuum lines without checking im pretty sure its just an electrical switch. im still scratching my head about this one hope its just increasingly poor memory. its been a long time since i messed with a pre magnum engine. .

From : nosey

bigironram wrote there is also that solenoid that sits on top of the intake that has 2 nuts holding it down that appears to have air coming out. wrong direction right. i need a better description of this one. all i can think of here is the vacuum amplifier but theres no electrical connection to it. egr valve -- ken i dont know of a single year model that ever had electrical connections to the valve itself. the more elaborate ones think 4bbl typically and post 83 2bbl had timers and such mounted on the firewall. those would also have a cts charge temperature sensor at the rear of the intake manifold maybe thats it but iirc no vacuum lines without checking im pretty sure its just an electrical switch. im still scratching my head about this one hope its just increasingly poor memory. its been a long time since i messed with a pre magnum engine. did any 318 egr valves have a purge solenoid -- ken .

From : nvart

damn! 20million miles i think it should be making some noise at that mileage. m in roman numerals has a value of 1000. .

From : bryan

nvart wrote damn! 20million miles i think it should be making some noise at that mileage. m in roman numerals has a value of 1000. since 1960 m in engineering notation is million http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/engineeringnotation. in electronics i love when someone specifies a capacitor as mfd instead of fd... youd need a forklift for one of those babies! g bryan .