My 2.9 knocks like a bast**d

[SRT08]

please help.? now, i have all of the parts for the 5.0 swap, but i initially bought this truck to drive to keep the miles off my durango.. it made noise before i purchased it, but this was before i researched much on these.. figured it was something with the distributor or the valves needed adj.. it sounds like top end, but i tooke the rocker shafts out, checked them, pulled the push rods to see if bent and they arent.. could i have a stuck lifter or something REALLY bad.? can anyone point me in the right direction.? yes, this is a 1988 2.9l, but the oil looks great and no milky anything in it so i dont think the head/heads are cracked.. 88,000 miles.. ran fine on the road, but lost power bad after about 20 miles of driving.. also, the temp guage never rose in temp until i turned the truck off and then turned the key back on.. after it started up again, the needle dropped to cold.. lost and frusturated, cuz i wanna drive it now becuz i wont have the time to do my v8 swap until winter.. thanks to whoever can help me.!!!!

 

[SRT08]

also, i pulled the cats off and they were hollowed out.. thought they might have needed replaced due to being plugged, but thats obviously NOT the case.. lol..

 

[SRT08]

so, i finally got some more time away from work to mess with this.. i forgot to mention that i only pulled one valve cover in my initial post.. so i pulled the passenger side and, anti freeze and milk.! the head is def cracked according tro the evidence.. so, NOW my question is.. would this have madew it make the racket it was making, and if so, if i got a set of GOOD '89 or newer heads, will i be ok.? please, help would be great.. thank you..

 

[Psychopete]

Water has been getting into the oil, which is not good on the bearings. Options I would consider are a different engine, used 2.9L, or last resort - rebuild. I wouldn't even roll the dice on just a head swap, impossible to tell if that the engine will be fine after the change (unless you pin point the actual problem) and how long it's been like that for.

Get someone with a good ear to hear it, it would be worth while to have diagnostics done if you're not sure. Really it could be a lot of different things , and I wouldn't take someone's opinion on it that can't even hear it at the least..

 

[SRT08]

Thank you for the advice.. like i said, i have the 5.0 and everything needed, i was just hoping to get by with the 2.9 so i could atleast be driving it.. but i dont want to chance a break down or beeing stranded, and aside from not being able to find a good 2.9 anywhere around me, i cant see buying one just to pull it back out for the swap.. thank you again..