Engine ticking
 

Yes...I did search the forums for engine ticking before I posed this thread but I didn't get the results I wanted.

There seems to be a ticking sound kind of like a bomb that I hear. I can't hear it when I pop the hood only when I bend over and look under the car where the front wheels are. I know it isnt the clutch rattling because I press the clutch and the rattle sound goes away but the ticking is still there. It seems to be comming from where my midpipe connnects to the headers (I think) I bought one of those fuel injector carberator cleaners and the ticking is a little fainter but its still there. I don't know what the sound is though. I am running the ****tiest spark plugs for my car...the bosche platinum or iridium plugs and I recently just washed my engine, but this ticking sound has been there before I washed the car. I seemed to have started after I got my catts cut out and after I had an engine misfire problem where 2 cylinders weren't working but I got that fixed.

Does the speed of the tick increase with the increase in rpm? Is it louder when the car is cold? Sounds like an exhaust leak. Start the car and put your hand near the header/midpipe connection and feel for air. Also, check under there while someone else revs on the car, it'll make finding the leak easier if that is whats wrong. If you could post a vid it would make it a lot easier man,...

Oh boy...my car was making the exact same sound. Louder when I close the hood. Seemed like it was coming from the header/midpipe connection on the passenger side. Like a "chic, chic, chic" sound. I changed the oil. 5qts Mobil 1, 1qt Marvel Mystery. added some crap to quiet the lifters. Later on "Boom" I ended up in the "sit-chi-ation" I'm in now where I blew a spark plug through the cylinder head. Not sure what number plug it was but it was second closest to the wall on the passenger side. CHECK your plugs. Hell, change them and see if the sound goes away. Good luck.

when I rev it I cant hear the ticking anymore. My exhaust is too loud.

change your plugs to copper. if you know they are ****ty, why use them?

because I have a MM coilover kit at home and I need the money to buy the caster camber plates in order to install them. When I changed the plugs they were so expensive and I didn't know they made such a big difference. But will changing the plugs make the sound go away? The plugs are located up on the engine and the sound is comming from the lower area between my wheels and side mirror.

Personally, I would never run platinum or irridium and im sure many of the other guys can claim the same. They are made for longevity and have been known to cause problems with our engines for whatever reason. Pick yourself up some Autolite 764s and not worry about that. Might fix your problem, but might not. Its only 15 bucks anyways.

we're moving away from the point a little. He has a largely stock engine combo so plugs aren't the cause I don't think.

Couple notes to keep in mind:
99+ 4.6's (can't speak to older ones... they sound diff to me) all have a little tick-ty-tick-ty-tick at idle.. it's usually just the injectors being audible. Sometimes it's a little valvetrain noise. If your lifters (yeah they're not true lifters but they do mostly the same thing) aren't pumping up enough, then you should be able to toss some thickener like Lucas Oil treatment or STP oil treatment in and it'll probably get quieter. If you've got engine noise...you'll probably know. It sounds distinctly bad when it's something bad and you can hear it get louder and faster with just a few more RPM than idle.

My bet is you have an exhaust leak or you're sensitive to the sound of injectors cycling. I found the injector tick to be very disconcerting but I've since gotten used to it.

My suggestion is pull those crap plugs, put in some 764's like the man said. Check for exhaust leaks, and make sure your cat's heat shields are not falling off or broken (edit) and throw in a bottle of one of the oil thickeners. After you've done those, let us know and we'll move on to the next step.

Good luck.

sounds like exhaust leak...

either bad header gasket (like me)

or bad connection at header/midpipe

When I changed to the Bosche platinums the total cost came out to 100+
Where can I get the autolites.

any auto parts store.. they're just plain old copper core plugs. You don't need anything made from exotic metals to make a spark. Copper works great and is proven. The only difference is you have to change copper plugs more than platinum.. oh bummer... gotta change my plugs once a year .... heavy sigh.

go to your local Kragen or Chief and tell em what you have and what you want and you'll be on your way for under 15 bucks.

any tuorials on install? lol. I'm not too good at installing parts because I always feel like I'm going to break something. And are the plugs pre-gapped for my car? I was reading some posts about gapping and stuff and I have no idea spark plugs were so complicated......(to my knowledge that is)

some plugs will come "pregapped" but you should still check them anyway just to make sure. There should be a sticker under the hood with the proper stock gap, I want to say like .054 but the sticker should be there to tell you. The only time you really need to worry about a different gap is with nitrous or a blower.

As far as a tutorial, I assume you mean for installing the plugs, and to that I have to ask how the platinums got in there? Didn't you put them in? It can't get much simpler. You just need a spark plug socket, a couple of extensions, and a rachet. Not that easy to screw up, just don't overtighten when putting them back in. Get a torque wrench if you have a tendency to underestimate your own strength.