I have a weird issue with my 2006 with the 4.4 @120,000 miles. Its really noticeable when I pull up into a drive-thru and have a wall close to the truck. When I go around the truck, it the sound does not seem to come from one side in particular but its most noticeable from the wheel wells. With the sound cover off, its not as loud/defined from above the engine or in front. My fan wrench just arrived, so I may pull the fan to help pin point it better. Oil is Castrol high milage blend 5w-30. And I just did a change 1,000 miles ago. The problem was there long before and does not seem to be getting worse. If I had a bet, I would say its a hydraulic lifter - but I find that odd with the lower milage. Usually lifter I have replaced are on engines not taken car of and well over 200k miles.

A search did not bring up anything useful. So I am wondering if anyone else has had such a ticking noise or had to replace any lifters on this engine.

 

idk...just sounds like an LR3 to me.

 

Well that is both comforting and disturbing! lol

 

I know...

 

hoam_wa is right.

I am on my third LR3 and they all have done to some degree at some point after 100K miles.

Might be a leak between one of the head and exhaust manifold (seems the left side is more common). I had it on my first 2007. It is almost a body off repair (or not, depending on where to take it) I was waiting until it got so bad I could not stand it anymore before addressing it. I was bad during wide open throttle for extended periods of time, but who does that on a regular basis?

I would hear it on the freeway when driving in the left lane next to a barrier at 2,500 rpm or more, as well as in the drive through at idle.
Car got flooded out by Hurricane Harvey last year before I fixed it.(I do not recommend that method of repair)

General disclaimer:I might be wrong

Jeff

 

mine picked up the same thing recently too (103k), no difference to the acceleration or driving and no codes so just figured the valvetrain gets noisier with age.

isnt super loud either, can hear it when against a wall with the windows down, but seems to go away above ~2,000 rpm.

 

Mine does it as well, really noticeable at idle in the wheel wells or driving next to a wall at lower speeds. My engine only has 50k miles on it (was replaced 2 years ago), so I doubt it has to do with mileage of the engine. I'm going to guess an exhaust manifold leak as well, since it's a little bit worse when the engine is cold.

See also from this other recent thread:

 

Could be an exhaust leak, I know its a common issues. Heck, its an expected issue. But I would think with an exhaust leak it would be more regular and not have that randomness to it. But you all see to agree the noise is normal so that makes me feel a bit better about it. I may try some treatment before my next oil change and see if there is a change. Thanks for all the replies!

 

Update: I was an exhaust leak! A couple months ago I finally went in and took a look. The driver side manifold had about three that were coming out, the further back the looser they were. From all that I reading I did people decided to pull it all apart and replace the gaskets. I simply tightened mine down and the problem has not shown up again at all. There is not even a hint of any noise now. The passenger side, they were good. I did not going over all the exhaust bolts though, only the ones I could get towards the back. And like I said, the further back the worse so they may loosen in that way so I worked forward enough that I could not righten any at all.