I've been going on a tear replacing parts on the truck:

- plugs (colder autolites)
- cap/rotor
- front/rear o2 sensors
- ign coil (had to remove bracket and drill screws out, who the hell uses philips heads on something like this??? Chrysler what were you thinking?)
- multiple seafoams and inj cleaners, MMO
- factory PCV valve
- TSB reroute of ign coil wire away from plug wires
- plug wires, coil wire

Originally I thought the ticking sound was pinging, but now that I'm hearing a chirping like sound when cold, that sounds more like pinging to me. Oddly enough I'd never heard pinging on this engine until after doing all this work! Figured out the ticking is a nasty exhaust leak that needs to be fixed.

After it warms up the pinging disappears and everything is normal. I was getting a P301 code repeatedly just shortly after startup until I seafoamed it yet again by pouring a little into each spark plug hole, seems to have cured the problem. The weird thing was it was always #1 throwing the code. Doesn't pinging throw a CEL code?

 

Lifter tick?

Our trucks have no Knock sensor, so, the PCM has no clue if the engine is pinging or not. Seems a major oversight to me......

 

But they made them more affordable.

 

Would lifter tick be high pitched and sound almost like squeaking? It doesn't stop the noise until about 150 F temp. Initially it does it at idle on startup then goes away after a minute, then it just happens when I rev it in park or drive under load.

I need to shoot another vid and hopefully capture the sound. Oh and since the first post P0301 reared it's ugly head again. I'm starting to think the fuel injectors might need to be pulled and cleaned or something. Shortly after I bought the truck I ran it fully to empty several times so I could put gas additives in and make sure things were starting fresh. Could I have sucked crap up into the fuel lines?

 

Your noise description sounds like an exhaust leak. Check the manifolds and joints closely.
When mine started making that kind of noise I found a manifold bolt that had broken, but was still in the manifold so it looked fine. After that I found a collector leaking from not being tightens enough.
Another thing to try if you haven't is a high octane gas, not just an octane booster. I'd still lean towards exhaust though because pinging usually comes with heat, while exhaust leaks sometimes go away with heat.