Truck has a rattle pretty bad from what I believe to be the timing chain, but also has some other noises. As far as the timing chains go, how dire of a replacement are they? Obviously, I am going to fix it in the near future but the next few weeks are kinda tight with both time and money. I also notice the truck has a pretty rough idle (I just bought this truck) but I will give an update tomorrow as I notced the tower that the coil wire goes to on the dist is corroded and think that could be the problem.

I had a question about transmission noises as well, my truck has the nv3500 5 speed. I notice sometimes when I have the windows down and radio off, if I glide around a turn in neutral then clutch in and go to 2nd gear to start accelerating the tranmission makes some noise. I know many manual transmissions make clunks and noises as you go through the gears but is that normal on these trucks? Thanks

 

What year is the truck? I know the 97 to 99 (99?) have a bad timing chain setup you can get a replacement kit for it that has a tensioner to get rid of the noise.

The sputter: Have you checked your plugs recently? I had a plug that was mis-gapped and it caused that issue.

Transmission noise: I had a similar issue and it turned out to be the Catalytic converter. I know the early yrs 97-99 again had bad cats that died between 40k and 80k miles. They had a recall on it in 2000 but sadly I had replaced mine by then. Good note I replaced entire exhaust with performance headers back. Otherwise on the trans find a GOOD shop and have them give you a free guess-timate.

 

Plugs are brand new and I gapped them all and double checked the gaps. Im pretty sure the rough idle is from the dist cap. And the truck is an 03 but dont the 03s still have timing chain issues? Could it be the water pump making that noise? ill have to pull the belt off after work and see if it is, maybe its another pulley with bad bearings?

 

I realized I forgot to mention the distributor last post. Was coming on to add that. My water pump has gone out twice and its always made a whining noise. All occasions can be different though.

I have had 2 power steering pumps go as well. First one whined but the second made a clunking sound from bad bearings.

As far as the 03's having the timing issue I stopped looking into it in 2000 when I discovered what it was. Alot more knowledgeable guys in here than me that's for sure. One of them may have that answer.

 

Ok, here is an update. Today, I drove my cummins to work. When I got home I pulled the belt off, started it up, and it almost seemed like the rattle disappeared...all the pulleys felt good, no play or bearing noises. Put the belt back on, and it almost seemed like the noise had gone away....well, I got home with it after going out to dinner, and pulled the belt when the motor was hot (when I got home the noise was back, loud, with the belt on). When I took the belt off, the noise was just as loud....So it seems like the noise gets real bad as the engine gets up to operating temp. Its a pretty loud rattle. Idk if it would be considered a knock or tap but its pretty damn loud...what could this be, what should I look into or should I be considering a used motor swap?

 

Welp, one day later, truck is gone. Had a main bearing knock after futher diagnosis and I sold it, out of problems thanks DF for the help and support! back to DD'ing the cummins :/