redraiderford

My 2007 f150 lariat 5.4 began ticking several months ago. It has been driving me crazy and the engine developed a surge. After a trip to Christian Brothers they solved the problem in a day. An o-ring had gone bad in the oil sending unit. They replaced the o-ring and the ticking and surging has gone away. I also had a bad gas smell getting into the cab. The spark plug on cylinder 5 was really loose so they torqued all the spark plugs to spec. If yall have a ticking noise and replacing the cam phasers, lifters and injectors didn't fix it, check the oil sending unit.

Hongstertruck

Hum!! You don't think the culprit was cylinder 5 loose spark plug? But, thanks for the heads up though.

redraiderford

Who knows, it could've been the cylinder 5 plug. My truck did go into engine fail safe mode with a low oil pressure reading which is why they dropped the oil pan and found the bad o-ring. Either way I am happy it is gone!

nrivera04

#8 was loose on mine... Ain't ticked since. Plugs were changed before I bought it and the tick got progressively worse.

redraiderford

Same. The dealership I purchased my truck from had changed the spark plugs and the noise was there when I bought it but it was faint. It progressively got worse until I could not stand to listen to it anymore.

nrivera04

I actually developed a misfire on the interstate. Electrode on #3 fell out and grounded the plug out. I'd read the plugs had to be torqued so on a whim I asked my mech to check while he had it... He looked at me like I was crazy. Turns out 5 of the 8 moved while #8 had backed out considerably.

HeathMc

My 05 5.4 has a loud clank like that also. Glad to hear that it's something to do with the exhaust. Mine does it sitting still or driving while warming up. Haven't paid much attention to see if it does it while cooling down.

redraiderford

Here is a video I put together for anyone with these frustrating issues. The hesitation is gone as well as the metallic tick. First video is before going to the mechanic and the second is after. Enjoy! I am very happy with the way it is running. Very smooth and quiet at idle. It feels like the throttle is much more responsive.

torx

The bad o-ring causing the ticking noise makes sense because this truck has 2 timing chains with hydraulic tensioners and if the oil is just getting pumped up to the bad o-ring and then draining back into the pan, it isn't getting to the tensioners allowing the timing chains to have enough slack that they can make the noise referred to as the ticking noise.

HulluCorn

is it the oil pressure sending unit? Part number by any chance?