having a tough time here trying to figure out why my exhaust sounds smooth for a few days then ticks and sounds rough for the rest of the month then repeats.

i have 218,000mi on it and there has been no head work or anything like that, and after putting the turbo on idk what the tick is. i think it is my downpipe, but have a hard time trying to diagnose the leak.

im not too familar with the sounds of lifters ticking but thats my second guess.

i have 2 videos here, the first one you can hear my exhaust and a smooth idle, and the second you can hear that my exhaust sounds rather rough. (these videos are within 2days of eachother)

any thoughts or suggestions? im stummed guys

smooth

Ford idi turbo whistle - YouTube


rough

Lifter vs. exhaust leak - YouTube

 

The first does sound good man. But in all fairness the second is hard to tell. With the hood up it will have a different sound due to the engine noise being unresticted by the hood and the distance. I did hear a fiant "tick" but it is about like mine lol. I think it is leaking at the pipe manifold connection tho (mine that is).

 

I'm pretty sure if it's exhaust it's post turbo, performance doesn't change weather it sounds good or rough. Still hits 15+ regardless of the noise it makes. I used to be leaking where yours was, but the sun moon and planets aligned and I was able to fix it lol

I try to rub my fingers around the seam of the downpipe and outlet housing and can't feel any hot air...but I also can't feel it very well.

Maybe it's good somedays and not the others because I don't have a support on my downpipe and it shifts around in there when I hit a big bump or something? It's never falling out again so i got it pretty tight but might move a bit...idk...

Any other dead give aways of a lifter?

 

i know i have a good leak at my up-pipe cuz of all the black soot. i can also hear kind of a hissing noise coming from that location when i am driving. i also can hear a tick. i think that is exhaust as well because when i am under the hood the engine sounds nice and smooth. but when i kind of crawl under the truck the tick is much more noticable.

 

It could be an injector, does it go away with rpm or keep up with the motor, I put a new ip on injectors with 20k on them, when I had them out to do head gaskets my buddys kids knocked one off the bench, didn't notice it whit the old ip but with the new one it would go away with rpm, then after it came back to idle for about 10-15 sec the knock would come back, I didnt even need to crack the line to find it, I just felt for the line that pulsed with the knock. It's free and worth a shot. In my expeience exhaust leaks get worse, never had one fix itself.

 

The reason I think it was the downpipe is because the ats upgraded housing witch the down pipe just sits inside terrible design IMO but I already tried the injectors, some make it super rough some just rough. They all made a difference tho

 

Id put a long screwdriver on the head or the valve cover and see if you can find the tick in the motor, if its an exhaust leak you should see lots of soot around it.

 

My van has a tick sound, but only as you step on the gas taking off from a stop, not noticeable cruising, or idle, I was wondering the same at first, till I remember he said it has a new exhaust system from the manifolds, all the way to the muffler, so I said, it's probably not sealed up right.


After taking the dog house off, found black soot right on the passenger side head, inbetween cyl # 8 and 6, you can see it right where the dipstick tube comes in.





Hopefully, yours is an exhaust leak as well. But for good measure, do you have a real oil pressure gauge on it? What's it reading?

 

Yes I do, oil reading from the top of the turbo with a "T" reads 11psi at warm idle

 

11psi? Isn't that a lil low?

 

It dropped 10 psi at every warm idle, cold idle, rpm range ever since I took the sending unit off the block and moved it on top of the turbo...so it's been 20psi warm at the factory location and 10psi warm at the top of the turbo, Plummed into the oil feed and factory sending unit