Over the past few weeks i noticed a different sounding tick then the normal injector tick. I only notice the tick when in drive throughs or next to a car in traffic. The tick is not as fast as the injector tick and it only does it a low rpms 500-600 in drive. If I rev the engine or put it in nuetral the tick goes away. Any ideas of what this could be? The truck is a 2006 4X4 5.4 Thanks.

 

possible rip or hole in a boot on one of the cop's. or possible small exhaust leak. maybe a cam phaser. how many miles? and has it ever been tuned up? have you kept up with oil changes?

 

sounds like cam phasers to me
very common in the 5.4L 3v

 

mine does the same thing only in gear. So i think its the phasers instead of exhuast leak.

 

It has 24k miles and has all the scheduled maintenance and oil changes. Mine also does it only in gear at idle. The tick comes and goes so im thinking its not the cam phaser cause I would think that if it was the cam phaser it would make that tick all the time. Could be an exhuast leak, I didn't know a tick noise could be caused by an exhuast leak.

 

a small exhaust leak can cause a tick noise. my truck had a small exhaust leak and could kinda hear it at idle and barely while driving but if yours is the same way you may not notice it while your driving. and correct me if i'm wrong but the scheduled maintinance for your truck eventually deals with pulling a spark plug right? if so you may have a loose plug.

 

My guess is cam phasers. You mentioned you only heard it at 5-600 rpms, prolly cause as you increase rpms you increase engine noise (or cabin noise when driving) and don't notice it. I have the injector tick and the phaser tick on my '08 5.4L. I actually think it's more of a slight knock than a tick, and it as well is at very low rpms, I notice it in park and neutral when I'm not moving, but not in drive (more surrounding noise). Mine has sounded the same since I bought it in Nov. 07 till now, from no miles to roughly 23,000. Hasn't gotten better or worse, though some days it's not nearly as noticable. Hope that helps a little.

 

my 06 has a nasty knock (tick) go in next week will update u want they find i have been told cam phasers is the noise

 

if the noise is only under load in gear and not while idleing it is probably an exhaust manifold gasket leak. most likely on the passenger side at the #1 exhaust port. look for black around the manifold there. it is pretty common. if it was a cam phaser it would be the complete opposite of what you describe. it would be noisy idling in neutral and go away with higher RPMs.

 

Usually when you go to neutral your rpm's spike a little, but not much over in drive and not moving...he described it as happening in drive thrus or when in traffic next to other cars...not really under a load as in acceleration, and at low rpms...5-600 is low idle, barely moving. Exhaust leak would be much more noticable under acceleration, higher rpms. Been there done that.

 

Next time I hear it i will try and find out what side the noise is coming from. From what I remeber it sounded like it was coming from the bottom part of the engine bay almost underneath the truck. I will also check the exhuast manifold. Hopefully it will tick when I take it in for the next service.

 

I am having the same problem, i can only hear the tick when thier is a load on the engine. Or when i drive by other vehicals on the road. Mine is coming from the right side. I had it checked out by ford and they said that its the cam phazers. Is this right or is it an exhast leak?