I have a 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 4.7l with almost 90,000 miles. it has been great to me but about a month ago i started getting a tick when it was cold but as soon as it would warm up it would go away. Its been getting worse and worse ever since and now its a constant tick no matter warm or cold. Im pretty sure its the manifold gaskets that are shot. The sound definitely seems like its coming from my driver side manifold. I was wonder how hard would they be to change? Im going to do both at once. Im pretty mechically inclined since ive built my quad motors but never messed around with cars and trucks. Do i just have to disconnect the manifolds from the rest of the exhuast then loosen the manifold bolts and pull them out. Then put some hi temp gasket sealer on them with the new gaskets and bolt them back down? What are the torque specs on the bolts? Also what gaskets should i use? Would Felpro gaskets from autozone be good? And are there any hard bolts to get to or any special kind of bolts to remove? Anything else that i would need to take off beside the intake?

Thanks for your help and any info is appreciated.

 

Taking the manifolds off isn't hard, just be careful not to break a bolt.

 

First, 4.7L manifold bolts have a reputation to break. I have never broken one so I'm lucky. You might want to spray some pb blaster on the day prior and its not bad. Once the manifolds are off, be sure to scrape off all remains of the previous gasket.

Alot of the 4.7L guys I've been around prefer the Remflex over the Felpro. This is the gasket I see used the most.
http://catalog.remflex.com/MOPAR_JEE...t_p/rf6001.htm

4.7L manifold bolts have a torque spec of 18 ft-lbs.

 

Getting to the manifolds should be easy peasy. Support the truck with some jack stands under the frame rails and pull the inner fender wells out. There should be 8 8mm bolts holding 'em in and you might wanna yank out the factory air box if you don't have a CAI. Once that's done you have free unrestricted access to the manifold bolts at the heads and the bolts at the flanges connecting the exhaust manifolds to the piping. I just replaced my freeze plugs and saw that I had the opportunity to get to my manifolds with all that stuff outta the way and sure enough no more of that ticking on start-up. For me the studs at top and bottom of the left (driverside) head furthest toward the firewall had come loose (finger-loose) and boom done in a snap. I have an '03 4.7L 1500 ST.

 

so you guys are talking about replacing the whole manifold itself? i know mine has ticked like this a few times and the damn bolts that bolt the manifold to the block, the head of the bolt snaps off and i gotta pull out the broken bolt sometimes with pliers sometimes with my hand and just throw some new bolts in and its good...but you do have to remove the fender well for this...only takes 5-10 minutes max...

 

I've never used a sealer for manifolds/headers and haven't had a problem. Maybe someone that has will chime in if they had a burn off problem. Either way make sure you torque to specs and then recheck after several heat and cold cycles.

 

I get the tick whenever I drive on a cold engine especially in the winter but as soon as the engine warms up, it goes away

 

i also have a tick in the morning when i start my truck on what sounds like the drivers side i wonder if this is the culprit i also have a 04 4.7 and it has 60k on it ill hafta check it out is there a way for me to be able to tell with just replacing them?

 

Usually (in my experience) the manifold bolts/studs are to blame. There is a possibility that the noise could be coming from the lash adjusters (either worn or not properly lubricated) but I would certainly check the manifolds first. My truck has over 130k mi. on it and sounds like it did new since I tightened up those studs. No ticking whatsoever. I have never used any kind of high temp sealer on those manifolds before so I'm not sure about any burn off.

@blown287 - Dude you're my hero. That dak is effin AMAZING!

 

I noticed this very same thing happen to my truck about 2 months ago but wasn't sure where it was coming from, thought maybe it was a lifter or something. So one morning I decided to crawl under my truck to se if I could locate it. Fired her up and crawled underneath, took me about 5 seconds before I noticed the lower rear mount bolt on the drivers side exhaust manifold was broken and I could feel the exhaust leaking through the gasket. I also noticed oil spitting out from under the valve cover.

So I bought some new bolts, gaskets, and some PB Blaster and went to work. I wish I would have known about dropping the wheel well cover, would have saved me some time but I did manage to get the manifold off. Using PB Blaster all the bolts came off easily and when I went to pull off the broken bolt it just spun off in my fingers, wasn't even hand tight it was that loose.
Once I got everything back together I fired up the truck and she purred like a kitten and no more oil leak. It's a pretty easy job, just take your time and clean everything up real good before you put it back together.