jd318

Sorry for the dual post.

jd318

Hello all, I just bought a 2001 Ram 2500 H.O. Its my first diesel truck. The engine is pretty noisy (normal as far as I can tell) but I've recently picked out an engine knock during cold starts. It appears to diminish when the truck warms up. The truck was worked pretty hard and has 145,000 miles. Maintenance appears to have been sub-par. The truck runs strong. It has a stealth plate on
the VP44 so I think a box was removed before I bought it. Oh yeah, It has a stack. At this point I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worse.
Opinions would be appreciated. jd

wurkenman

I have a 2002 2500 and it too is noisy as all getout when cold. Has not been a problem. Never gets real quiet, but sounds and performs like a diesel should.

chuxtruk

I'd say that if your oil level is fine and you get good pressure when it's running it's probably just being a diesel and being noisy on the start. What is your oil pressure?? Maybe next oil change add in some Lucas oil treatment or similar product but if it's running fine now and this is your first diesel, your ears are probably too good in that there's a lot of different noises in that diesel that you never hear (thank god) in a gas powered rig. If it's really cold, plug it in and you'll hear far fewer noises coming out of that warm truck at startup than if you don't use the plug in, when the outside temps are cold. I think they recommend plugging it in when the temps are below 40 or 50 degrees steady. Here I plug in my truck in @ night from about November to March/April for about 5 hours a night. The heater uses 750 watts of power so leaving it plugged in all the time probably isn't needed (here) tho if it was really cold then plugged in and on is the rule when not being driven/used. Hey it's there and it's meant to be used. I suppose the truck would last longer as warm starts take and make less wear. I've seen some pre-oilers installed on a couple of different first gens which prevent dry, no oil starts by running an oil pump before the truck starts, tho I haven't seen that setup on any newer DC trucks.
Anyway, long as you check oil and it's O.K. and change it and run some kind of oil supplement, along with this being your first "oil burner" while keeping an eye on your gauge(s), you should be fine. Good luck with your "new" truck!!

jd318

Thanks for your replies. Oil pressure is good. Already use Lucas oil treatment - fuel treatment ect. Guess I just need to get acclimated to a diesel engine. jd

John Faughn

Sounds to me like an injector problem , dirty , not spraying good , ect .
What fuel treatment ?
I think the best is bio-diesel , for cleaning & lube , at least 5% & up to about 25% , I've used a lot of cleaners / additives , the only one that works so well that you need to have a spare fuel filter , the 1st time I used , 10% about 5 days later the filter plugged , also it ran quieter and smother idle .
With the VP pump you should have a fuel pressure gauge [ a weak point - there is a lot of failure with those pumps .

dj_souvlaki

proably just how it sounds.

my little vw 1.6 diesel is as loud as my cummins is when its warm.

neighbours hate me cause i have 2 diesels lol.