I hope to not get any scary responses on this one but I guess I have to ask. When starting up my 02 Screw 4.6L in the morning, I hear a ticking sound on the pass. side of the motor. I have opened the hood to see if I could pin point it, but I cant quite get close enough to hear exactly where it is coming from. It is a little bit louder than the tick from fuel injectors I believe, it almost sounds like an exhaust leak. The only thing is that once the motor warms up, the ticking almost goes away, it is just faint. I am hoping I am not hearing the lifters ticking, but I have heard that before too, and I don't think that is what it is. I was just wondering if anyone else has had this problem with their 4.6L? It could possibly be coming from one of the accesories, alternator or one of the pumps or something like that, maybe the idler pulley perhaps? I dunno, but the truck runs fine except for that annoying tick when cold. BTW, the tick does go with the revs of the engine. faster when revving, and slower when idling. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

It is more than likely your exaust manifold gasket on that side from what you explained. I had the exact same sound on my 2001. I removed the tire, took out the wheel well liner, checked the tightness of the bolts, and had the head of the back two studs just fall off. luckily when I got the rest of the bolts off and got the manifold off the back two studs had enough threads showing to use some vice grips to get them out. i went to auto zone and got some new gaskets, and some new studs and replaced just the passenger side and have not had a problem since. It probably would never have hurt anything but that ticking sound is enough to drive you crazy. All and all it only took a couple of hours, and I was in no rush. Also when I examined the old gasket it looked as though it was put on crooked from the factory and just took 50,000 miles to burn through the gasket. Maybe I will never have to change the driver side.