red 97

I am the proud owner of a 97 F150. It has a 4.6L with 196K miles. Just recently the engine developed a tick. I would like to figure out what the tick is and repair it right away if serious. I know it is hard to help diagnose a noise when you can't hear it in person but I could use some help from the more experienced members in terms of advice. The tick is always present when the engine is running. Hot or cold makes no difference. It is a slow tick. By slow I mean it is slower than the engine rpm. The tick does increase in speed as the engine speeds up. At idle it is quieter than when the throttle is open. At idle the tick is a little irregular. By irregular I mean in volume. There will be louder and softer ticks. At higher engine speeds the tick is very regular. It seems to be coming from the passenger side. There are a lot of pulleys on that side. It could be one of those. It needs a new belt so I could take it off and check the pulleys. Some forum members have suggested a leak at the exhaust manifold. Is there any way to check for an exhaust leak?


I have a stethoscope that I poked around with but really did not find anything. I appreciate any suggestions that you guys may have.

red 97

For the sake of closure I wanted to report that I found and fixed the tick. The engine needed a belt. I removed the belt and checked the pulleys and found nothing unusual. I started the engine and observed that the tick was gone. I thought good a pulley is a easy fix. I put the new belt on, started the engine and the tick was still gone. Since I only changed the belt I went to the old belt and found two places on the belt that the ribs were gone. Each spot was about a half an inch wide. I guess as the spot rolled over one of the pulleys it made the noise.