Hey guys, new here just looking to see if anyone has some ideas. I have searched this problem a good amount over the last week. I found numerous things the ticking could be. Loose spark plug, cam phasers, lash adjusters, exhaust clogged/or cracked manifold or exhaust bolts and more. I recently put some money into the truck. Some new suspension parts, tires, front rotors and brakes, rear brakes, new spark plugs motorcraft, all new coils. Truck has 149k miles is a 2007 fx2 sport 5.4L.

Few months ago all was going well. I got that shutter around 50mph when giving the truck a little tap on the gas and figured it was time to change the plugs. Later that day i got a check engine light and it started blinking. So I didnt drive the truck much further and got it shut off. Has a misfire and unburnt fuel in the exhaust causes blinking CEL. Got my plugs changed and all was good for a few weeks. Started to have ruff, shaky idle and another CEL light misfire cylinder #8. I changed all the coils and truck ran great after no more codes.

A few weeks later I decided to clean the throttle body. It had never been done so seemed easy so I picked up some throttle body cleaner and an old toothbrush and made it shine. Reinstalled let the truck idle then idle with ac. Proceeded to drive around for a bit, al was good on thing that I noticed was when letting off the gas the truck wouldn't slow down just kept its speed. That went away later that day all back to normal. Don't see how I could of messed anything up with the throttle body.

About 5 days later I started getting that ticking noise and now acceleration problem. When I try to pass accelerate the truck bogs down right above 2k rpms. It seems like it drops a few hundred rpms and loss of power feels like I have my boat on the back. If I drive with lite throttle it runs fine, it idles fine as well. When you need medium or full power its not there. Sounds weird but It seems to run a bit better when its raining or cooler out. but 95% of the time its been just how I described. I am getting no CEL. The tick also increases with rpm. Its there when engine is cold and hot and you can hear it speed up with rpms increasing.

I had a spark plug loose and I was happy because I was sure that was it. Had the shop tighten plugs all back down but sound is the same. Cats are not clogged my exhaust was unhooked and truck ran same. I am posting some video below of the ticking noise which I know could be multiple things, also a video of the truck driving and bogging down. Just looking for some ideas not sure if the noise and the way the engine is running is related. I see many say they have a tick but truck drives normal.


Thanks for any help.

 

The ticking sure sounds like mine does once it's warmed up and the phaser starts knocking. When it's cold it's quiet.
Is yours knocking lie that all the time, or when?
I dunno if that explains the poor acceleration though.
I would have a look at the intake runner control rods see if they are bound up on wires or one is disconnected.
Other ideas are to monitor your fuel pressure pid and inspect the fpdm for corrosion. You should have around 40psi most of the time

 

I vote phaser knock. Once the engine warms up the oil pressure goes down. Because the oil pressure goes down, the phaser starts knocking. I apologize. That's one of the worst case scenarios but is more common. Also once oil pressure goes down because of getting warm, more oil pressure is lost due to blown out gaskets on the hydraulic timing chain tensioners therefore making the timing chain looser than it should be. Another worst case scenario.

 

I'm going to have the truck looked at next week. Fuel pressure was said to be good. Ill check the fpdm for corrosion. The truck makes that exact noise when cold and hot. The noise is always there right when you start the truck and increases in speed with the rpms going up.

 

Yea seems like that could be it although a lot of the ticking on these trucks seems to be only when cold or hot or goes away above 1200 rpms. My ticking is constantly there. From startup to driving around. You can hear it when driving and the noise speeds up with the rpms going up as well. Thanks for your response. So the phasers only make noise when the engine warms up?

 

Typically yes phasers get noiser as temp goes up, but also get quieter above 1000 rpm.
I'm thinking you may have a really bad cam follower or something on the upper end, it sounds like valvetrain frequency and that would also be noisy all the time like you describe.