I have an odd ticking noise coming from my engine bay, Inside the cab its a thumping type tick, I installed a set of sunpro gauges and ran a temp gauge line around the gas pedal and thru the firewall and I could hear the valve tick through the firewall being slightly louder but thats all... The line rattled for a bit but its too quiet to be the noise I'm hearing, its not valve tick either, I know that because it makes both noises at once.. It increases slightly when RPM increases but if I hold a certain RPM you cant hear it, only under load i ticks, It reminds me of the sound my engine makes if I "Lug" the engine in too high of gear, but it does it at high RPM in a low gear... Any help is appriciated if you can decypher my gibberish..

 

Only under load? It may be spark knock. Are you using any oil? Any bluish, carbon smelling exhaust? Any noticeable loss of power? Take a look at your plugs....what do they look like?

 

Well, I understand your problem. What kind of spark plugs are you using? When mine were replaced, I went with the 4 prong Botsch, at 135k miles, that are pre-gapped. And, from what I've read on here the Botsch are bad plugs for our trucks. My tapping only occurs at 2100 RPM, which is unfortunately where I cruise alot. My ticking is in the 2nd cylinder and when I get on the gas there's some kind of hesitation, like a bogging down, missing spark somewhere. Does anyone know the size of plug pulling socket that I need for my plugs? I have 4 brand new Denso plugs to put in her after I gap them. This truck was last given a valve job at 100k miles and now it's at 154k. It's possible that the clearance needs to be adjusted in order to stop the ticking at 2100 RPMs. Does anyone know the best place to find the vacuum hose routing map (1994 p/u dlx, 2.4L 22RE) so that I can remove the valve cover without any headaches? Also, does the valve cover require a new gasket, what's best, Toyota or cheapo gasket? Soon, the oil pan will be getting a new gasket and I plan on checking the timing chain, because if it's loose, then it may be where the noise is coming from. It still has the original chain and guides. Which truck are you fixing, how many miles, what motor?

 

Thanks for the help, my plugs are fine, brand new champions, Same plug I always use.. It had ty NGK plugs in it when I got it and it ran like hell, swapped em out and it runs fine now, it is at about 2100 rpm come to think of it.. I just changed the oil exactly 145 miles ago... and it never uses any oil.. My exhaust is also fine... Also I'm fixing my '86 with a 22R with less than 20K miles on a rebuilt top end. BTW I checked my plugs and they're fine.