Hello guys and gals. Glad to be a member of such an informative and valuable forum! Got a question on my '99 F250 5.4 with 90000 miles. It has developed a tick about 9 months ago. I have researched this up and down and want to attempt to clear up whether it's an exhaust manifold leak, spark plug about to launch, dirty injector or possibly something else. The symptom is this: the ticking is not there upon start up and at idle from cold or warm, but is there under medium acceleration but goes away after the engine is at operating temp. If truck sits with engine off for about 10 minutes, it cools off enough to have ticking return. During ticking, if I give it considerably more throttle during the moderate acceleration it will go away. Again, the ticking is NOT there after the engine has been running for about 5 minutes or more, no matter what the acceleration or condition. The ticking is coming from the passenger side of the engine. I did notice that the top rear exhaust manifold bolt is busted off, and I do see the slight appearance of a black sooty substance from around there on the block, indicating it could be leaking. Is this for sure what it is? If it was a plug about to blow, would I have been able to go this long with the tick without it blowing? Would the ticking go away after warm-up if it was a plug? Finally, if it was indeed the exhaust manifold, would THAT ticking go away after warm-up also? Thank you so much for any responses!

 

exactly what it is!! I just went through this 3 days ago, and ended up with gibson headers. Mines an 03 and w/ 70000 miles and the passenger back top bolt was busted off, casuing a slight tick under load, when the truck heats up the metal expands and seals the leak. The stud was actually sticking out when i got the manifold off but the bottom one in the back right under the broken one was the nightmare for me. I just used vise grips and alot of PB blaster and turned it right out. The bottom one was not missing but in the process of taking out the bolts to get the manifold off, it just twisted right off as if it was the next to fall off. It actually rotted inside the head and broke below the surface. Ended up putting a 8 x 1.25 Heli Coli in the bottom one and worked like a charm. Held the recomended 30-35 Ft. Lbs. Driver side came out fine by the way. lol I just went through this 3 days ago.

 

Thanks for the reply Rollin. Yeah I was afraid that is what is was, but at the same time relieved it is just an exhaust leak. Now, if I end up waiting for awhile to fix this probem, am I risking any further damage, or just the annoyance of the tick? I am considering replacing with headers also. So does this mean my manifold is probably warped? If I dont go the header route and just replace with new OEM parts, is it worth finding another OEM manifold and installing it, or is the problem just going to reoccur? Thanks again for the help.

 

Get replacement stainless studs from your Ford dealer. They won't rust like the steel ones did.