Sounds like interested party is a fucktard. Describing an engine as knocking, or any "metal on metal" sound from an engine, pretty much means that 99.9% chance it is bad and needs to be pulled. Hell, if I were looking at a car and someone said "there is a light ticking coming from the engine and it's not in the head" I'd assume the engine would need work right there.

But in this day and age, people use "slang" terms for shit they think is correct terminology. Bet the dumbass thinks "crank" means "run" just like people who think "rims" are wheels and think wheels are tires.