anyone with a 97-03 F150 ever hear a sound like small particles flying around in the egine area or engine itself when in high rpms like passing someone or flooring it up a hill. i always hear it commin up the mountain, 2nd and 3rd gear floored u can really hear it.. its hard to tell what it is but like i said its like little particles going nuts or shavings of metal flying around... weird i kno.. but nothing is wrong.. i always thought it was my manifolds but i got them replaced so its not them.. thanks guys..TIM

 

Heatsheild loose maybe on your cats?

 

I have this, it started after the reman tranny went in, its in the TC, it has done this for 50000+ miles, I don't know what it is and won't find out until the new driveline goes in.

 

i do and i found that when i fixed up the leak in the emissions tube coming out of the manifold it stopped. then when my cheap fix blew out it came back.

 

Sounds like spark knock to me. Try a different brand of fuel, and dump some fuel injector cleaner in the tank, Check the spark plugs. If plugs are worn, there's your problem.

 

no its def not the spark plugs or fuel... i run 89.. if not 93 and have replaced my plugs and run gas treatment and fuel injector/carb cleaner all the time.. ill have to check out that tube ur talking about.. thanks guys

 

i just dont kno how it could be a tube off the manifold.. but i guess ill have to take a look anyway.. what exactly did u do to the tube so that it blew out again... thanks

 

X2 on the spark knock. Had the same sound on an 03 T-bird after my brother put in regular gas (it requires Premium). You could only hear it when you were getting on the gas. Next tank of premium and the sound was gone.

 

actually pretty cheaply, i tool the aluminum tape that is used for stoves and put it around the leak, cramped it down then put a metal hose clamp and tightened it down. it was right where the the tube attached to the manifold was where it was leaking. it works for a couple of months then i do it over again, but it stopped the weirld clicking/ball bearing tumbling sound.

 

I get the feeling you are hearing is occurring towards the front of the engine. The chatter if the guides is very light (like particulate matter tinking about in the compartment) and occurs at high RPMs, especially when passing. It is not constant but it does occur frequently enough to notice.

I too had the same problem occur to me around 130k and last for about 15k. If you are using to heavy weight of an oil, this will cause the problem. Try draining the oil and going to a regular 5W-30 like Pennzoil. I believe I was running 10W40 and when I switched to 10W 30 the noise ceased.

 

i used to run heavier oil (castrol gtx) but i switched to motorcraft 5w20synthetic blend and have been with it for 4 times now... hasnt gotten better but maybe it will lessen over time.. il look into that tube and i will be replacing my coil packs, plugs and wires later down the road.. hopefully one of them will solve the problem.. thanks guys for ur help.. enjoy.. TIM