2004 Ford pickup 5.4 liter motor tick noise

[maxwell11]

the motor on my son's 2004 Ford pickup, 5.4 liter motor has started making a ticking noise after it's warmed up,
94,000 miles, truck is in excellent condition other than this minor ticking noise.

you can hear the noise at idle, but not when driving down the road.

he uses Ford oil filters and Ford oil 5W20.

most of you guys that ever owned a truck this model have probably traded them off for newer trucks by now.

but, do you ever remember having a motor tick with your 5.4 liter Ford motor.

if so, what is the cure, is it a valve, injector, it does not miss, so I would not think it was a plug loose.


I really do not know what to tell him to do, as he likes to have his vehicles in top condition.
he only drives the truck approximately 8,000 per year. has the oil changed at 6 months or 4,000 mile intervals.

reason I ask here, he has ask the dealership, local repair shop and one or two others, who should know about this model motor, has gotten a different answer from each;

bad plugs, loose or worn timing chain, flywheel loose, coil packs bad,
etc:
Thanks for any suggestions,

I suggested changing the oil, use Ford filter and 5w20 oil, but replace one qt of oil, takes 7 qts (I think) with one quart of Lucas oil stabilizer,
might be worth a try, before letting some one tear into this motor,

again, any suggestions are appreciated!

[2_many_2]

lbrjet wrote:
And what was the repair?

And how much?

[lbrjet]

And what was the repair?

[maxwell11]

my son got his truck back,
motor runs quite, no more tic noise, he is a happy camper!!!!!!!!!!!

old ford will roll on for at least another year is his plan.
then maybe a new one.

[Sam_Spade]

maxwell11 wrote:

one problem that has held him back is the fact that no mechanic he has talked with will guarantee the problem will not come back or be completely corrected.

Not surprising. That would be a pretty stupid guarantee to make.
Older engines just make more noise. There are more than a half dozen things that can make ticking noises, some important and some not.

If it REALLY bothers you/him that much, it's time for a new truck or new engine. But even new ones tick a bit sometimes.

[tcp]

If it is happening when warm, chances are it's a VCT problem not a manifold problem as they tend to reduce in noise when warm. Here's a nice 2553 post thread on what he is in for:

Phasers

Enjoy!

[maxwell11]

my son has made an appointment to have the tick noise in his 2004 Ford truck repaired on Monday,
as some of you said, he hopes the problem is the exhaust system

but he is prepared for the approximate $2000 bill to have the valve train repaired as necessary,

one problem that has held him back is the fact that no mechanic he has talked with will guarantee the problem will not come back or be completely corrected.

I will give you an update after the repairs have been made,
again thanks for your advice,
he read each of your responses,

[2_many_2]

I have one of these trucks too and I have been reading this thread with great interest.

Thank you!

[Wes_Tausend]

...

The noise is probably from the exhaust. The bolts are known to corrode and even be missing. Normally this means more noise cold though. When warm, the metal expansion tends to close the gap.

One of the unpleasant things I learned about my Ford Triton V10 (same as V8) was that the passenger side cam tensioner is more likely to fail, or at least fail 1st. The reasoning is that Ford makes the left and right cylinder heads somewhat symmetrical. They aren't interchangeable, but the oil gallery feed for the driver side feeds from the front of the engine, directly above the oil pump, a short path. The heads being symmetrical, the passenger side head gallery therefore feeds from a long path, starting at the rear, after the oil has already traveled all the way back, feeding the engine crankshaft main bearings and of course leaking along the way.

Then starting from the rear, this RH side head allows the oil to travel back towards the front of the engine, now leaking out of each cam bearing along the way of course, until whatever pressure is left finally arrives at the RH front passenger side cam tensioner. If for any reason, the general oil pressure is not high enough because of wear etc, the pressure to this RH side tensioner is particularily anemic compared to the LH.

When discussing oil pressure, keep in mind that the Ford pressure guage is not used as a guage, but rather is connected directly to the on-off (digital-like) oil sending unit that controls the idiot light. Ford uses a small resistor on the back of the guage to cause the full 12v signal to move the guage needle as though the guage were measuring a nice analog pressure. So the guage only needs about 5 to 7 pounds to trip the idiot light and make it look like there is great oil pressure.

An anemic pressure from a worn engine, if that is the case, particularily allows that RH cam chain to slop around, sometimes whipping the aluminum timing chain cover, and make noise. I'm not sure about feeding the 2004 RH hydraulic phaser since my older 2000 engine didn't have them, but there is a good chance that they are operated by the same, hopefully adequate, leftover pressure as the RH tensioner. To make matters worse, the heads contain an oil limiter restriction right right where they pick up pressure from the block gallery (off the shortblock deck). Sometimes this gallery literally becomes plugged by debris resulting in total cam failure on that side. Keep in mind that the camshafts run right in the aluminum head casting... there are no hardened bearing inserts.

The repair trick is to isolate the unwanted sound via stethoscope and determine precisely where it is coming from before deciding a course of action and budget.

Because of the relatively long stroke, if I were to race one of these Triton engines at high rpm where some oil starvation always occurs, I would plumb a direct short route from the front oil pump to the RH tensioner/phaser, exactly like the already standard path for the LH.

Don't let this info scare you too much, these engines are quite reliable. I wish your son good luck and hope the ticking is a minor problem, which it very likely is.

Wes
...

[maxwell11]

Thanks for all responses.
I passed them along to my son,
he will just have to determine how much that small tick noise is bothering him and how much he is willing to spend to correct it.

Thanks again for your input,

[jwadd]

I put my money on exhaust manifold. Have done right side 2x and left 1x. Find a good mechanic. My mechanic is half the price of the dealer.

[IDoMyOwnStunts]

My previous truck was an 05 F250 with the 5.4 and yes, it did have the ticking noise after 100k spark plug change. I was just told to ignore it (which is hard to do after owning an engine in a previous vehicle that threw a rod). Traded it in 34k later. Never did find out what it was, but on mine it didn't seem to affect the performance of the engine. From the sound of these other posts, I probably should've investigated it further.

[Terryallan]

spud1957 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

maxwell11 wrote:
the motor on my son's 2004 Ford pickup, 5.4 liter motor has started making a ticking noise after it's warmed up,
94,000 miles, truck is in excellent condition other than this minor ticking noise.

you can hear the noise at idle, but not when driving down the road.

he uses Ford oil filters and Ford oil 5W20.

most of you guys that ever owned a truck this model have probably traded them off for newer trucks by now.

but, do you ever remember having a motor tick with your 5.4 liter Ford motor.

if so, what is the cure, is it a valve, injector, it does not miss, so I would not think it was a plug loose.


I really do not know what to tell him to do, as he likes to have his vehicles in top condition.
he only drives the truck approximately 8,000 per year. has the oil changed at 6 months or 4,000 mile intervals.

reason I ask here, he has ask the dealership, local repair shop and one or two others, who should know about this model motor, has gotten a different answer from each;

bad plugs, loose or worn timing chain, flywheel loose, coil packs bad,
etc:
Thanks for any suggestions,

I suggested changing the oil, use Ford filter and 5w20 oil, but replace one qt of oil, takes 7 qts (I think) with one quart of Lucas oil stabilizer,
might be worth a try, before letting some one tear into this motor,

again, any suggestions are appreciated!

That 5.4 should be a 2 valve per cylinder engine, so NO cam phasors to worry about.

As far as the 5.4 2V or even 3V ticking, yes, they ALL can do that and not have a problem. Some are more loud than others and often only when extremely cold..

I have one with just under 200,000 miles and it had a slight tick when cold that would go away when warmed up.

BUT, even so, with a 2004 there ARE a couple of things that NEED to be checked.

Number one is the spark plugs will tick when slightly loose.. If loose you ARE risking having a plug(s) EJECT causing a lot of expensive repairs (timesert or head replacement).

Do not rely on the dealership to check the plugs.. I nearly found out that dealer mechanics do not know what a TORQUE WRENCH is the hard way.

Had my 2006 in for plug replacement, shortly after they replaced the plugs I started smelling raw fuel in the cab (but only when backing up or stopping at stop lights)..

Back to the dealership multiple times and each time they came back with no problem found?

Finally I pulled the COPS one at a time I discovered ALL the plugs were loose.. One plug took a 1/2 turn by hand before hitting the seat!

Those plugs NEED to be TORQUED to proper specs for that engine year.

Secondly is a slight tick can be caused by a broken or cracked exhaust manifold or manifold bolts.. So far I have not had that on any of my 5.4s.. Sounds like it could be a royal pain to fix.

As far as dumping stuff like Lucus or other additives, don't.. They are nothing more than expensive junk and will not "fix" anything..

All good info but small correction. 2004 was actually the first year for the 3 valve in the F150.

for 2004, they also corrected the spark plug spitting problem. Only problem now. You can't get them out. Ask me how I know? Ford sent out a bulletin saying to change them at 60,000. they would come out easier. NOPE. Will not come out. Did all the soaking thing, and followed Fords instructions. they are still in there. It don't miss, and runs perfect. so I'm leaving them in.

Now mine clicks for a split second on morning start up. Until the oil gets to the top of the engine. Quiet after that. Or I guess it is. Can't hear a little tick with the Magnaflow purring.

[FordsForMe]

LynnandCarol wrote:
Ours has the ticking, after warming up it less noisy. Took it to a mechanic and he indicated it was exhaust manifold leaking and the 2004 was notorious for that and always the same side (passenger). If this is it just ignore it!

This is what mine was as well, only I used the ticking as an excuse to put on long tubes and full 2.5" stainless duals on it with magnaflow cats and magnaflow mufflers. Needed to also get custom tunes to ensure it didn't throw codes but man did it sound fantastic. I still miss that truck.

[mosseater]

Notorious for cracked exhaust manifolds. I've replaced both of mine so far. Typically the passenger side goes first. Mine happened about a year apart. If it's ticking AFTER it's warmed up, though, it might not be the manifold. They normally tick until warmed up, then quit. If it is a manifold, and it's left go, it can erode the bolt flange/port on the head. Then you'll never seal it. They can be spendy to change, at about $900 per (dealer).