Prior to starting up a hill, I heard a slight ticking or knocking noise. The noise was so slight, I thought it may be loose change rattling, I was not sure if it was the engine or not. As I only had 4 miles to go until I arrived home, I pressed on and start up a 2 1/2 mile hill, where the grade was approximately 4%, not overwhelmingly steep.

All the way up the hill, the vehicle seemed fine, without any noticeable differences in power or handling. Just as I reached the crest of the hill, I heard the ticking sound momentarily, where without warning, the engine stalled. There was a hairpin turn at the top of the crest, where I had to muscle the vehicle around the corner; had my wife been driving, she would not have been able to muscle the car around the curve.

While rolling downhill, I placed the gear select in "N", neutral, where I tried to start the car again by turning the ignition. Unable to start the vehicle, I parked on a shoulder and subsequently had the car towed to my home.

At home, I charged up the battery and tried to start the vehicle again. The vehicle started but was running very rough, with a loud knocking noise. I shut the vehicle down. The knocking was so loud, I thought that there may be major damage to the engine. I jacked up the vehicle and changed the oil and oil filter. I did not see any metal shavings or particles in the engine oil.

Once again, I started the vehicle again. It barely wanted to turn over, but finally started with a rough idle and knocking noise. But after only a couple seconds, the engine smoothed out. It still was running a little rough, but not as bad as before, now there was only a slight tick and intermittent miss. After about 10 minutes of running time, I brought the RPM up to about 3200 RPM, the engine seemed alright, until it start knocking again. The knocking is very loud and is more than a sticking lifter. There is NO oil or smoke coming from the engine or tail pipe. The vehicle is very hard to start and it sounds like a "scraping" noise as the engine turns over prior to start.

I know this may be a catastrophic engine problem, but I am going to try and replace the camshaft position sensor(cps). If it is not the cps, then I will either need to find a replacement engine or I will most likely start looking for a late model Ford diesel pick-up; it may not be worth it to rebuild or replace the engine in this Excursion, what a shame as the body is in near perfect condition, no dents, dings or scratches.

I would appreciate it if anybody may have some input regarding my engine problem.

Thank you!