Douche

 

Edited so i don't get banned. But don't start ****. I was being serious.

 

Seriously? My apologies. I assumed you we're joking. Can you at least confirm that it was only on cold start, and sounded like a muted deisel?

 

I assume that we are talking aobut the 5.7 hemi?!
My a/c clutch makes alot of noise when engaging too. It has sounded that way since new though.
I would think an exhaust leak would sound like the ticking all the time and not just on startup. Especially on accleration. Mine sounds lifterish more than exhaust. << assumption)

 

My thoughts are the medal gets warm and swells sealing the loose manifold causing the tick to quiet down but not totally go away as mine is doing. I changed the oil and added
a treatment to help quiet lifters and the noise is still there same as it was. This is why im thinking its an exhaust leak. This weekend im going to start ripping stuff off to see if its the manifold. I really dont want to drill out a broken bolt but i cant see paying someone for something im capabile of doing myself.Its just a pain in the a** job and if its not the manifold then i guess i rip more into it. the Tick is really getting on my nerves???

 

Well on my 4.7 Ram it would do it on a cold start, but my Dakota I really only noticed it when I was next to a car, or in a drive thru or something like that. On my '95 dakota it ticked all the damn time as well as on my '85 ram. I just consider it a dodge trademark honestly. All of mine have done it. Actually, my Dakota was doing it for a bit, but I started using 93 octane only and using fuel injector cleaner every so often. Hasn't done it since (that I've noticed)

 

After replacing my sparg plugs with the Autolite 3923s, and smoothing the idle considerably, i've noticed that the cold start "diesel" noise is still there, but it has changed to a more "rythmic" sound. This believe this definitely supports the argument that I have an exhaust leak. But the headers have that heat shield. I have not had the time to pull one off. Can someone that has been through all of this confirm my suspicians. If I get this resolved, I think I've taken care of everything. Here is the list of things I've done over the last 2 months.

Rear End TSB
New tie rod ends
New sway bar links
New Rancho shocks
Autolite 3923 plugs
AmsOil 5w30

 

I did...I took the heat shield off Friday night. What a pain... Broke 2 studs off. You see the manifold bolt doubles for the shield post. I broke the shield post end off so to replace it you need to order a new one and remove the bolt in the manifold also...
All my manifold bolts were tight. and no leak detected in the engine area. I changed the oil again and added a Lucas oil treatment but still have the noise. Next check is where the Y pipe connects to the manifold... I still feel its an exhaust leak and not a lifter..I put the heat shield back on but is it really necessary.

 

I just had mine repaired the tick went away. It was Right exhaust manifold leak. The dealer replaced the gasket, and tick is gone. 2005 4.7L 35K.

 

I thought I had a typical exhaust leak too. Mine is also on the passenger side. It got a LOT louder just this morning. Mine was getting quiter after warming up and exhaust leaks would only do that if the metal expanded and sealed the leak but in my experience it doesn't do that.

My truck is now in the shop for what is probably a bad lifter. The oil holes got messed up or plugged is what the mechanic thinks so far but I will post the results in the new thread I started under 3rd gen trucks. It is called "Knock or loud tick". My mechanic says he has replaced a lot of lifters on these 5.7 Hemis for this same reason and he says it is usually on the passenger side of the engine. Maybe there is a common oiling problem there.