I feel like my tick comes from the left side of the engine near the EGR valve. Is there an additive I could try if it's anything with the valves?

 

Do you mean the SAI valve? That's the vacuum canister that connects to the y-pipe that feeds into the cylinder head by the exhaust manifold. If you put a screwdriver on the valve cover in that area and put your ear near it you can see if it is coming from the valve train. Another good possibility for a tick in that area is a cracked weld in the joint in the exhaust between the flange and the pipe for the catalytic converter. That's where mine is leaking right now. It's loudest when the truck is started cold then gets quieter as the pipe heats up and expands.

 

well i did the hose check as soon as the block cooled down the ticking/knocking went away as soon as it heated back up it came back.

 

well next up would be to try a genuine grey 180 t-stat and see if it helps with that.
then on to the other stuff.

 

Ok will do

 

So your ticking is a liner but, you need to know if you are getting coolant into those cylinders before you spend your money on a t-stat .... cause if you are, a 180 t-stat is not going to help with that.
If coolant is in the cylinder or cylinders you will have either a crack somewhere or a head gasket blown internally.
So I would rent a scope and look in the cylinder bores for steam cleaned pistons before ordering a t-stat.

In extreme cases you can even remove the plug on the suspect cylinder or cylinders and spin the engine over and it will spray any pooled coolant out of the cylinder. Then you'd know if coolant is getting into the cylinder.
But if yours was still running halfway decent with no flashing SEL then you may not be getting coolant in there or at least not enough coolant to check by just cranking over with the plug removed.

 

Well I am losing coolant so where else would it be going?

 

Some common places to loose coolant are at the heater plate under the throttle body, at the timing cover or water pump, and also out the heads at the ends. You can check the top of the valve cover on the Driver's side for the throttle plate leak, look for coolant dripping down the block and oil pan for the timing cover and around the starter for coolant leaking out of the heads. If there are no leaks there then the ticking cylinder combined with the steam cleaned plug would indicate a crack behind the liner. There are no coolant passages adjacent to the inner cylinders so a failed head gasket there would only affect compression.

 

borrow a pressure tester before you wait more time and money,.

 

Haven't wasted any money yet