ive got a pretty serious problem with a foden with a 420 ■■■■■■ lump at around 1400 rpm it has a very loud metalicy knocking noise this noise it only happens when cold and driving it is a little lumpy on idle and is under powered its had the tappets re set and its got a new turbo its blowing no smoke and has no problems with over heating and the noise goes away once its up to temp there seems to be no problem with the gearbox or other running gear any ideas as this has got a few people stumped
Incorrect tappet settings?
Who did them?
Also, if the engine wasn’t making that noise before the re-set and the new turbo, surely it’s got to point to one of those items.
Ken.
ex ■■■■■■ tech just before i bought it and my garage my garage say they where set wrong and thats why its making a noise they re did them but its still making the same noise they are going to re check them again tomorrow when its cold
Do let us know when they’ve been done.
If an ex ■■■■■■■ tech has done them before you bought it, and they were set wrong, I wouldn’t let him anywhere near it again. If he was an ex tech at ■■■■■■■■ I’m guessing he may not have had the proper tools to do it since he left, whereas he would have had them when he worked there.
I used to drive an EC14 that was a bit sluggish, and it was sent into ■■■■■■■ at Leeds, and when it came out, it went like ■■■■ off a shovel until it hit the limiter.
Ken.
thats whats throwing us if he has set them properly which he says he has done and he does appear to be clued up when speaking to him over the phone then why is it so far out after such a short period of time and i has done minimal mileage do you no any proper ■■■■■■ mechanics i rung one company today who said they deal with ■■■■■■■ but they havent got the proper diagnostic equipment
Hi Lee, try Pelican Engineering at Leeds, they were Foden agents from almost the beginning to the end. Still a family owned firm and what they don’t know about Foden’s, and all the various engines fitted in them, isn’t worth knowing.
Good luck
Regards
Dave Penn;
i sent a DAF in to a local main dealer to have the valves reset after a head gasket change
all was well for about as week, then it had a really noisy rattle from the front head, wasn’t blowing smoke or anything, just seemed a little down on power and a bad rattle, i took the rocker cover off to find that one of the valve adjustment bolts had come loose and the gap between the rocker and the valve bridge was far too great, it should have been 0.5, but was indeed about 8mm 
i tightened the rocker up and reset it to an approximate setting, and it was much better 
i do hope its something thats not quiet right rather than something thats knackered is a loud noise almost sounds like a misfire i followed the truck to the garage in my car with the window up and could clearly hear it
As Dave says, however they may just send it to ■■■■■■■ in Leeds where my EC went.
Ken.
On an l10 we had an injector collapse the centre needle dropped, not sure if the later ones are the same though. Easy to identify a misfire though, just start from cold and hold the exhaust manifold, whichever one heats the slowest is the misfire.
would oil in an intercooler and pipes push oil out of a breather from the rocker cover
Shouldn’t do, mainly shows turbo gone. Oil from breather is usually crank case pressure.
it had a new turbo fitted before i bought it but they didnt clean anything when they replaced it lots of oil in the pipes and lots in the intercooler got loads from the intercooler by drilling a small hole in it and running the engine now its running well but after setting the top end of the engine up am getting a lot of oil coming out of the breather the theory being it will blow it through theres no smoke and it realy pulls and sounds well
sounds like the big end shells, just drop the sump and tighten them up.
Sounds like someone has got rid of trouble. That much oil should never have been allowed to stay in there, and for that much oil i would have suspected some metal fragments which would normally go on to do internal damage. I can’t see how the oil is getting from the intake system into the rocker cover apart from past the pistons. But i could be wrong. Intercooler needs changing at the least.
It sounds as though you have more than one problem here, firstly the low power, foden alphas with ■■■■■■■ engines frequently crack intercoolers, this gives low boost pressure and poor performance. They normally go on the front offside in the tube ends just below the top. Full boost should be up towards 2 bar, much less than this check the turbo wastegate and intercooler
If the intercooler and hoses have lots of oil in I would check the new turbo. Most of the oil should clear pretty soon after fitting the new turbo. Also if a new turbo has been fitted due to the old one failing and filling the system with oil the oil should be thoroughly cleaned out before restarting the engine or you risk blowing the engine up.
If it has started blowing oil out of the breather after doing the top end settings but didnt do it before I would do them again as that would indicate they have been done wrongly. Other than that there is a wire wool style filter in the top of the breather, pull this out and throw it away, doing this can help the engine breath better.
I have known an ISM that had a loud metallic knock coming from around the compressor area and it turned out to be a worn compressor drive coupling. The noise varied depending on if the compressor was charging or not.
Hope some of this might be of some help
its not the compressor thats ok it was the top end it was way out supposed to of been set up before i got it but ? the turbo was replaced because the rod snapped it didnt break up the intercooler was supposed to have been cleaned out but ? it has been set up and it runs pretty good now you said oil in the intercooler should clear it self how ? we have drilled a hole in the bottom of the intercooler plugged it and take the bolt out and rev it to try and blow it out its clearing quiet a bit out but i think it needs cleaing properly my garage wants to strip it and flush it but am sure you can do it with it still on the truck by filling it and leave it overnight then connect the turbo side and blow it through but i cant remember what you would use
The oil in the intercooler clears itself by the turbo blowing it through the system and the engine burns it. After a while there will be hardly any evidence of oil. If you have a new turbo on and there is still fresh wet oil in the intercooler and pipes after doing a fair bit of mileage I would say your new turbo is leaking oil. A small amount on a turbo that has done a fair bit isnt unusual but you shouldnt get any on a new turbo.
If a turbo has filled the system with oil and you fit a new one but are not able to fully clean the intercooler take the truck for a run working the engine hard with the intercooler outlet pipe disconnected, this will blow most of the oil out. The downside is the mess, there will be oil everywhere.
The main thing to remember is if a turbo has failed and put a significant amount of oil into the intercooler dont run the engine with the intercooler outlet connected unless it has been removed and thoroughly cleaned or blown through with the outlet disconected. If you do you risk overspeeding the engine to destruction. I know this from first hand experience.
Going back to basics, if the air filter element is choked the turbo can ■■■■ engine oil past the seals due to the restriction, which will also account for a lack of power. However this ought to show also as exhaust smoke which is not a symptom which you have mentioned. It is worth checking if this was renewed at the time of the turbo change. Worth checking too is whether the turbo oil drain is partially blocked either by a misplaced gasket or a deteriorated flexible hose.
Neither appear to have any bearing on the reported noise, but both are so simple to check and are relevant to finding fresh oil in the intercooler.
Do you know if the turbo was a brand new part. Wonder if it was from a breakers or a cheap reconditioned one but reckon there’s a good chance it’s stuffed.
As has been mentioned although very unlikely these are the sorts of symptons that can lead to engine runaway - block the air intake with a jacket to stop it.