I thought I had another manifold bolt going, but all of them are in and look good. I'm now thinking that I have some sort of spark plug blowby. That's the only thing I can think of that would give me that sound. I can hear it on the AM radio click click clicking away if that makes any sense. The truck is going in for it's 60K mile check up and will get new plugs and wires next week. Should I be really worried? Is there anything that the dealer will need to do to fix this?

 

If it's a plug getting ready to blow I think you need to stop driving it right away and maybe tow it to the dealer. If the plug blows it takes the coil on plug with it and might give you some hood damage. Other guys know more about this than me.

 

There is such a thing as the spark plug being blown out of the head. In the earlier model year V10's there was only a few threads that hold the plugs in the head. It is possible that the threads weakened do to several factors (loose plugs, over tightened plugs, etc) and gave out allowing the plug to pop out of the head. If this happens usually the threads in the head are completely stripped.

There are several things that can be done to repair this. The cheapest is a plug repair kit. There are several good ones out there (can't think of one in particular right now). You can either install it or get a reputable repair shop to do it. Either way I think you really need to know what you are doing to do it properly.

After this is starts to get expensive.You can contact these guys. http://www.blownoutsparkplug.com/ and they will be able to do a complete plug repair job. They claim to have a superior plug kit and in general seem to know what there are talking about. I heard a few people here have used them and where satisfied with the results if I remember right.

The final option (and most expensive) is to replace the head. It might be possible for the longer threaded head from later model year engines to be used. Someone here might know if this is possible. With the newer design there are more threads in the head holding the plug in the head reducing the possibility of the plug blowing out.

 

He SAID

I can hear it on the AM radio click click clicking away if that makes any sense.



Just my humble opinion but this statment begs MORE info

Can you also hear it on FM?
Can you also hear with radio off?
Dose it click click click faster or slower with motor RPM?
Can you also hear it under the hood?


There are a LOT of things that can cause AM radio noise.... but a loose spark plug is NOT one of them

 

Good point about the radio. Here one thing to try/look at from a TSB.

Fuel pump radio noise is relatively constant and changes only slightly with vehicle speed. If the frequency of the noise varies or the noise comes and goes with the vehicle speed, then it is not the fuel pump and this fix will not be effective. The following procedure will help determine if the fuel pump is the cause of the radio noise:

1.) Turn on the radio before the key is turned on (assuming the radio will operate without the ignition key - you may need to put the ignition key in the Accessory position).
2.) Turn the ignition key to the Run position (do not start the engine).
The fuel pump should run for about 1 second with the key in the Run position with the engine not running. Listen for noise in the radio. If noise is present while the pump is running and stops when the pump stops, then the noise is being generated by the pump and this procedure should help.

Full TSB: https://www.ford-trucks.com/tsb/full...hp?tsb=02-16-4

 

I'll try to check it out tomorrow. I can hear it under the hood only while the truck is under load. I do not hear it on the FM radio, but I hear it on the AM radio.

 

I forgot to mention how this all worked out. I brought the truck to the dealer the next day. They looked everything over. The plugs and wires were in great shape. They came to the conclusion that they put the right side manifold on wrong when the installed it a few months ago! Something about the gasket or something. Now they have to take it all apart again and fix it, but they are doing it for free and will give me a free loaner car. Oh well, atleast it's getting fixed.

 

So the truck went in to get fixed today. They got ready to put everything back together and did not like how the head was fitting back together according to them. What!?!?!?! Now I'm getting a brand new head (for free) flown in overnight tonight from Detroit. Hopefully everything will be done by tomorrow night (seeing that I need the truck!). So my question is, what could they have done to screw this up? I'm getting a new left manifold, all new manifold studs, and a new head for the price of $0. I don't know whether to be happy, angry, or scared.

 

Ummmm.... sounds like a stumper to me!

My first impression at the beginning was a COP or stripped wire leading to a COP or fuel injector. How the manifold and/or head could be causing AM interference is beyond me.

At any rate, I hope they fix it for ya!

 

I asked them about this. They checked the COP and everything was fine. They said that the static on the AM is fairly common with the V10s. I don't know how true that is.

 

It's not true.

You might just have a loose ground wire.