Bought this 2002 E350 with the 6.8l v10 about 3 years ago. It drove bad and timing seemed off. Threw all new sensors in it, cops, plugs, o2's untill finally I had to tear down chain cover to investigate. I found a broken trigger wheel and replaced chains and tensioners while I was in there and its been running great for 2 years since.

A couple weeks ago I replaced a flowmaster muffler with a 24" glasspack and then 3 days later got in the van to leave work and noticed the van was ticking very loud. Checked oil and was about a quart and a half low so drove and put oil in it, still ticking. Just did full seafoam treatment in gas, crankcase, and through the throttlebody and drove it for a while.... still ticking.

Narrowed it down to passenger side so checked the exhaust manifold bolts hopeing maybe a couple just got loose due to putting on the glasspack muffler recently .... a couple were 1/4 turn loose.... nope, still ticking.
Started to check my spark plugs but since its a van they are a B to get at so just checked back 3 on pass side and they were tight. Ive always tightened plugs a bit more than whats called for so doubt its one of the 2 other plugs I couldnt get at.
Anyway....
Still ticking.

Poked around with stethoscope and hear it loudest when probing top of the backside of pass head, just under valve cover. Allthough I hear it up front to as I wondered if a chain guide failed and it was chain slap but it wasnt as loud up front in the engine bay.

This really sucks, last year I tore whole interior out, por-15'd the bare metal, laid insulated plywood carpeted floor, insulated carpeted wall and ceiling panels, bought new 32" tires and rims, new radiator and alternator etc.....

Its been great for a work/secondary vehicle and the handiest vehicle ive owned for hauling stuff and making runs to hardware store and would hate to have to retire it but working in that cramped van doghouse really sucked and dont know if I can do it again.

Its a 2002 extended super duty with v10, 32" tires new on new american racing rims, Has ALOT of new parts...... body is decent, some small rust in rear lower quarters, 170k miles....been maintenanced by me twice a year since ive owned it with mobil1 filters and annual full synthetic 5w20..... what do you think I should ask if I try to sell?
What do you guys think it likely is....followers?

Any help/opinions is appreciated!

 

What was the mileage at when purchased it originally? Do you have any information on the maintenance history of this vehicle? Although the noise heard in the video does sound like upper end valve train being starved for oil pressure, it's very difficult to diagnose over internet. As a Ford dealership who has had to work on more than his share of E-Series vans, I can certainly relate to how unpleasant it is to work on the engine. I think this is a situation where you need to think about what your long term plans are for the vehicle. While you seem to have a fair bit of money invested in it at this point, it's really not going to have much of any effect on how much you're going to be able to get if you try to sell it. In its current condition with an obvious internal issue with the engine however, that's likely to drastically reduce what you are going to get for it. At the end of the day, it's going to be considered an eighteen model year old vehicle with an engine issue. While the cost to address this issue is inevitably going to cost a pretty penny if you have to pay someone to do the work, you may want to consider getting access to hoist to do the work yourself if that's possible. Worst case scenario is if the cylinder head(s) need to be removed, a wise idea may be to raise the body off the frame for access. Believe it or not, raising an E-Series van body off the frame is actually easier than doing so on an F-Series. The hardest part would just be accessing all the body to frame fasteners from inside the van, than the actual disconnects required to enable the body to separate from the frame. Once separated, you can then address the engine issues at your leisure. Failing that, you will simply need to unload your van as is, at a loss and move on with life.