Hello,

Have a 95 F150 reg cab 4wd auto with 5.8 engine with 101 k miles on the engine. I am trying to sell it. I just started getting a clicking noise from the right side(if sitting behind the wheel) of the eng. compartment. Mainly when cold and clicking increases with acceleration. When I put the truck in neutral and rev the engine no such noise. So I am thinking it is something in the transmission even though it really sounds like a bad valve clicking.

Any thoughts from those of you more experienced with wrenches than I am. Also recently had the fuel injectors cleaned by dealer and timing adjusted after hearing spark knock. Just the other day had the transmission fluid changed and did not seem to help sound. Went on a fishing trip last weekend and sound is getting worse.

Thanks in advance.

 

I just crawled under the truck again and seem to be getting some leaked of coolant from the underside of the engine on/near the starter. I don't know if this is related.

 

My first guess would be an exhaust leak. If not that, I wouldn't know where to begin. I say this because I too had that but at 87K miles, and it ended up being a cracked manifold on the passenger side. Like yours, it became progressively worse. The ticking remained even after repair, which turned out to be the y-pipe flanges! They rusted over the years (a '93 model) and warped, although whether from the manifold repair or independantly, I'm unsure. The manifold was easy to diagnose- a quick peek through the wheel well access hole revealed a hair-thin line between ports two and three.
You have said that the sound dissipates at higher RPM. Try testing this again, only under load. Find a hill on the interstate or somewhere you can get in overdrive and lug the hell out of the engine. The sounds in my case were unmistakable under such conditions.