After letting my 99 D1 sit for 3 weeks I come back to a flicker sound coming from the front area. It sounds like a baseball card in a bicycle spoke. The flicker is faster as the rpm's go higher. I turned the ignition off once and restarted it and the flicker went away. Now its back. I'd like to take care of this problem and have no idea what it is or where to start looking. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

You need to pop the hood and narrow it down futher to pin point where it is coming from. Is it a dull knock or a ticking sound? Could be a rod, lifter, bearing in a pump/alt, or just the idler pulley. I wouldn't drive much until you figure it out.

 

Doesn't the engine have some kind of sensor that detects rod-knocks and things of that nature? One would think so..

 

Sure, they have 2 knock sensors, but they don't make noise.

 

Problem fixed! I was low on oil. The ticking sound is gone.

 

You may want to consider how you maintain your truck, engine replacements are not cheap. I would suggest you do a flush and oil change, to clean up what internal build up or damage, this weekend and check the rest of yopur fluid levels at the same time.

 

Where'd the oil go in the firstplace? That's what I'd be trying to figure out.

 

I'm getting everything checked this thursday. I believe I have a head gasket leak as I see a small pool of oil collecting in the garage. I can also see come coolant on the floor.

 

^^Don't automatically assume that it's the head gasket, eg. my throttle body heater was leaking a little bit of my coolant...thousands of dollars difference in price to fix it if you're getting it done somewhere.