hey everyone my dads truck has the good old 5.4 ticking noise..what is this exactly and how do i rid his truck of it for good? its a 2001 5.4 f150 kr..thanx

 

there are many things on the 5.4's that can cause ticking.

the injectors on these trucks will tick. (No repair that I know of)

a manifold leak can cause a ticking sound due to a leak. the studs rust out and cause a leak. (check and repair the studs, replace the gasket while it's off, if it persists get the manifold planed as it may be warped).

a sparkplug about to be blown out can cause a ticking sound. (wait for it and repair because the threads are already weakened, to repair after insert a helicoil or get a professional kit which is stronger.)

lash adjusters. (someone told me that they start to tick when they get loose but it's not a big deal. replace if it becomes a real pita.)

sticky valve (try seafoam to be cheap)

piston slap (heard someone mention this before, still not sure of what this actually is, someone may elaborate on the subject)

this is where i would start seeing that my truck also ticks and i've posted a thread about it and i've looked into it quite a bit but other people on here may have other suggestions but this is what i came up with when i started looking into the mysterious ticks from the bellows of the 5.4.

 

trucks in great mechanical condition just replaced passanger side exhaust mani, plugs are good, definatly not piston slap, i dunno bout a sticky valve think that would make it run rough?

 

If it's coming from the motor, and it is worse when you first crank it up, and then quiets of some after that, it is probably lifters tapping. I have two f150's, and they both do the same thing. My 97 started around 35K, and it now has over 280k and the motor has never been gone into, just the normal maintenance. It won't hurt anything, it's just annoying. If you run fully synthetic oil it will help.

 

not sticky valve sorry sticky lifter.

a lot of these trucks have a ticking sound that doesn't affect it's performance or damages the motor it's just a nuisance, let's you know it's still there.

 

my 99 5.4 was ticking at 20k. they said it was a "bent rod" had to get a whole new engine, a rebuilt which i think is a much better then the orig one. thing is it cost me 800 bucks to rent a truck for a week and ford never repaid me.

 

thanx guys i thought it was just something annoying old man wasn't sure tho thanx again

 

obviously if the tick gets worse then it would be something to get checked out before it does become more serious and therefore costing more than a nuisance to the ear.

 

no im sure its nothing same tick my buddies dads has.. had it since new he tells me and stil has it 373,000kms later

 

I hope that it doesn't sound like this guys motor; http://consumerist.com/5052258/fords...-pinging-noise

 

Mine has a ticking sound at startup from the right rear of the engine when cold. After it warms up in a few blocks it quits when the engine and manifold expand and seal the exhaust leak. Ford guys say it is a common problem for the right rear nuts on the exhaust manifold to come loose or the studs break off. They won't know which till they can pull the wheel well and look. Maybe a stud broke or you have a loose nut cause they didn't torque down your new manifold. Course a broken stud requires manifold removal. Probably a manufacturing defect in the head or manifold.

If I could figure out how to get the wheel well off, I'd fix it myself. I'll wait for a response here before I post a new thread.

 

good read right there.
did they ever get down to what was causing the pinging sound? was it a bad lifter?

 

im glad i don't have a story like that to tell

 

i just recently got rid of my ticking noise. Put some marvels mystery oil in the oil and some in the gas tank. Frees up sticky valves and lifters. I put it in and less than a week my ticking was gone!