They are just getting everyone used to the "diesel sound" for when they put a baby powerstroke in the F150 one of these days. But yeah, I understand what you are talking about on the ticking, at times I think its a slight exhaust leak on the drivers side, but cant track it down. Maybe it is just valve noise?

 

My 5.4 made a ticking sound at idle and the dealer replaced replaced the cam phaser on the passenger side and all has been nice and quiet since.

 

Mine has that sound as well. Ive been informed its the phasers in the engine and they need replacing. Hope you have better luck with your dealers than I did. Mine are absolute ******. They replaced the passenger side but not the drivers and now I have to deal with them AGAIN. So over it.

 

At idle my 04 5.4 3v is louder, than my dad's 06 F-350 6.0.

My dad still questions me for jumping to dodge and Ford has allways had noisey engines, but as a loyal Ford guy, even my dad is preplexed that the 04 sounds like it's going to spew a mixture of engine parts all over the road.

A new querk has developed, sometimes when I start this truck, it sound's like thiers slack in the engine ( timming chain ) Than it catch's with a bang...sound's like a chain tighting up....

 

It is true that the 5.4 sounds a little bit like a quiet diesel at idle but nothing compared to my in-law 2005 F350...it is definitly a diesel

also, mine has over 36,000 miles for a little bit over a year.

also, it was running funny at one point when it was idling but I changed the air filter and the fuel filter (15,000 miles) and after that, it was fine. My problem was coming from using it in Arizona and you know what the dust can do..it gets everywhere.....nasty

 

my motor is a little noisy but that's just the way it was built...motors are not supposed to sound nice and quiet, you have alot of moving parts going on there...put a good exhaust system on the truck and you won't even hear the motor

 

Once my dealer replaced my Cam Phasers, the sound (just like yours) went away.

 

Uh, what are we in the cave man era again? "Me like noisy metal go bang bang." When an engine knocks, ticks, or makes any other abnormal noise it is a sign of too much clearance between the metalic moving parts. This clearance creates abnormal wear and eventual failure. Now to some the solution might simply be turn up the radio and ignorance is bliss, but the more common sense solution would be to diagnose and fix the problem. Personally I have a problem with a "$30k" truck not running properly.

If an engine sounds like a deisel, but yet its not a diesel, that might be a sign of a problem. I know mine ticks horribly, and at drive throughs and even riding by brick walls its embarrasing. To be honest I embarrased of how many times my truck has been in to the dealer, that I dont even tell ppl anymore its so bad.