I know this topic has been covered pretty well in depth but....

I talked to a tech at the dealership and he said that when he has checked valve clearances on the 3.0's during rebuilds, he said they are never that far out of spec, so I asked him why the valves are so noisy? I can't recall exactly what he said as I'm not super familiar with engine internals, but he implied something about it could be the valve hitting the bucket or something like that (does that make sense? maybe I heard that wrong?).

So what I'd like to know - my truck is a little "ticky" which sounds like valves. I'm curious if I had valve adjustment done, would it quiet things down a little?
Make it run smoother, etc. ?

What I am thinking of doing is doing an oil analysis on my next oil change to get an idea of how the oil/engine is doing. I know I have a small valve cover leak which is where I'm probably losing oil, but I want to confirm that and make sure my seals aren't leaking too much fuel/blow by. If they are, I'll scrap the valve adjustment until a rebuild, if it is just the valve cover leak I'll look into getting a valve adjustment done when I have the timing belt done.

Thoughts?

 

some times if the exhaust manifold is not snug it will sound like valve noise??,but arnt those hydrualic lifters??? if not and you do get a valve adjustment and a valve was pertty out of spec this could be the noise and this should solve the noise problem

 

When I first got my runner, I was perplexed by the ticking noise it made. I had the valves checked. They were fine. Had an exhaust shop check for leaks. There were none.

The 3.0 is a fairly noisy engine to begin with. My problem turned out to be a worn-out steering shaft seal. A rubber seal that goes around the steering shaft where it pierces the firewall (inside of truck). Because of the lack of the seal, all that normal engine noise was coming right into the cab. Once I replaced it, I felt like I was driving a different truck. It was so much quieter. It made all the difference in the world.

This is a fairly common problem on these trucks. It is certainly worth having a look at.

 

It's usually the INJECTORS that cause all the underhood ticking noise in most cases.

 

at least on my engine, it's the injectors that are so noisy.

try reving the engine to at least 2500 rpm, then release the throttle. does the ticking go away for a brief second? if it does, then it's your injectors because this test triggers a fuel cut until the engine drops to below 1500 rpm

 

That's a great tip! I'm going to try it.
-john