I recently purchased a 1990 sr5 v6 ext cab 4x4 truck with the auto trans. The engine runs great with good power and decent mpg. It had the head gasket replaced at 90k and it now has 133k. Anyway, the drivers side of the engine has a strong valve train noise ( i think) coming from it. It's a loud ticking that is just the most annoying thing I've ever heard. I am wondering if this noise is common in this engine. You cant really hear it when standing in front of the engine with the hood open but then you stand behind the driver's side front wheel, it's loud. Could it be an exhaust leak? I've personally never experienced an exhaust leak from this engine but I am stumped as to the cause of this noise. Can anyone recommend a video hosting link so I could post it up on there? Thanx

 

My 93 3.0 does the exact same thing. You can't hear it in front or inside, but if you stand by the driver's door, its LOUD. I've had the truck for ~15k miles, and it hasn't caused any problems. Probably just the injectors. This motor is loud.

 

mine does it under load after being driven for a while

 

after about 120-150k miles you should check the valve clearences on your cams. The ticking noise means you need to reshim some lifters as the cam has to much of a clearence over the lifter and is "smacking" into it vs "riding" along with it.