kprond

My '93 3.0L V6 pickup has gradually been making worse engine sounds. It started off very subtle this summer, but is worsening. The sound is hard to describe but its like a intermittent rhythmic clicking when the engine is cold. Usually goes away once things warm up. Almost sounds like a ringtone, but a muted clicking sound. Driving me nuts. Any ideas?

scope103

No idea.

Look for it with a stethoscope. You can go fancy https://www.harborfreight.com/mechan...ope-63691.html , medium (chunk of garden hose held to your ear), or broad-band (core of a roll of paper-towels). They all work in different ways, but a "ringtone" sounds like metal-to-something so a stethoscope (or a long piece of thin wood held to your ear) might work best.

kprond

Thanks for the idea.
It doesn't sound like metal to metal to me, maybe ringtone was not the right descriptor. It's more of a vibration. I have noticed that when it makes the sound, the engine RPMs dip, almost like it's bogging the engine down. It gets better when things warm up. Could it be a piston sticking or stuck lifter or something like that? I'm not familiar with symptoms of that. Thanks for any ideas!