hey guys im new to here I have a few questions that yall maybe able to help me with
I bought a truck over the year and it had a lot of problems and I've been fixing it up so here are some of my problems and hopefully someone knows what's wrong.
it has 187,000 miles it starts like a beast no problem i hear a ticking noise coming from #8 i believe it is. now the guy before me had it and tried to do a egr delete? by taking out all of the egr stuff. does that work? is it messing up anything? he took out the 02 sensors as well
when i first had the truck i did research and found the plenum to be the culprit so i changed it out it did good for 6 months but still had a small tick noise from same cylinder, i've changed spark plugs cap and rotor wires ignition coil battery oil change and air filter when i took the intake off i did not see anything big standing out that says hey i need to be fixed .... what's the ticking noise?
yesterday went out there to listen to my truck i hear a vacuum of some sort i can hear the whistle pitch so im looking and i have no idea what this means but same cylinder on the intake were your fuel injector goes it was pulling in air through the side of the fuel injector what does this mean? i can put my finger next to the fuel injector and it will damper the noise so it definitely is it but how do i fix it?
any kind of ugprades i should do?
ive upgraded the exhaust with edel brock hearders and a super 44 muffler i just put in new fuel injectors 2 months ago

also put a new (iac) sensor but it sounds like its pulling in air right there and makes a vacuum sound not bad but its there
no idling problem
but in 4th gear it boggs down a lot like im going over a hill
maybe new charcoal filter box or something?
anything helps guys im not a expert but anything will help
thanks!!

 

98 shouldn't even have EGR from the factory. Unless it was the HD 360, which I don't think came in the sst.....

You want the O2 sensors back in there, they do indeed help the engine run right. (NTK or Denso sensors only please, skip the Bosch, our trucks don't like them.)

Tick noise might be as simple as an exhaust leak.

Whistle might be a lack of the gasket under the air filter housing.

Catalytic converter still on the truck?

 

forgive me but is the catalytic converter is attached to the muffler in between the 2 o2 sensors? if it is then i do not have one im not sure on the egr but i have these hoses that lead to dam near under my passenger door and just stop right there one of them has a pulse i can feel it with my finger when the truck runs on idle it has a small but same pulse as the idle.
can the exhaust leak be due to the edelbrock exhaust headers or just a crap gasket? can the 02 sensors make a bogging feeling in 4th gear?

 

Leak is quite likely due to crap gaskets. Standard problem with headers. Get some remflex dead soft aluminum, or copper gaskets, and some good header bolts. You will probably never have to touch it again.

Yep, cat should be between the O2 sensors. If it ain't there, then it probably isn't clogged.

Those hoses are for the evaporative emissions system. There should be a carbon canister back there. Not sure if you can still find them new, likely have to get one from a junk yard. They also represent a vacuum leak, which can make the truck run funny. (especially without O2 sensors.)

Think I would start with repairing the things that got removed, and getting all the electronics back to where they should be. That will help, but, don't know if it will solve your issue. With the mileage on the truck, I would be REAL tempted to replace the timing chain and gears as well.