[Bradyb123]

New to tundras, just picked one up. It's a 2003 Ltd 4x4, with 138 on it. Recently started making a ticking noise. I'm not much of a mechanic, but I can work around a engine. I replaced the passenger side o2 sensor on it, it was bad when I bought it. I took it into a local exhaust/ muffler shop in Portland, OR. Was told the passenger side exhaust manifold was cracked, and the muffler was cracked. I feel like I may have led them to that answer somehow, after reading all that could have gone wrong. I was quoted $850. But can anyone tell me how I would know for sure? It's also ticking around the header, but I'm not sure why it would just start doing this. There is more noise under load, and the ticking increases as I accelerate, but I don't think it's constant cause sometimes I don't notice it. I don't want the car to break before the first payment, and any help would be appreciated.

Thanks everyone. And if you need any more info, feel free to ask.

 

[pophead]

An exhaust leak will often go away when the engine gets warm and the metal expands. What you described is textbook cracked manifold. $850 probably isn't a bad price, though I've never had to do mine yet.

 

[Bradyb123]

And from what I've read, it sounds like it should be, but sometimes you can still hear it even after the engine is warm or has been running for a while. I'll try to get a video at tomorrow and put it up with how long the trucks been running and the time. I don't want to pay 100 bucks for someone to diagnose it, when I could just replace it and have that go towards it.

Thanks for the response

 

[pophead]

Yeah depending on the size of the crack in the manifold, there will still be a ticking noise.
But better to be sure than to replace the exhaust and have a noisy valve.

 

[KPack]

Lots of threads regarding the Tundra "tick" have been posted up recently. I want rehash all my comments that I left on other threads....you can go through and read those. Bottom line is almost guaranteed that your tick is due to an exhaust leak around the manifold. Sometimes they will go away when the engine is warmed up, mine never did. It always made noise. Yours could be due to a crack in the manifold or a bad gasket (mine apparently was a gasket). Replacing the manifolds and gaskets is the answer to your problem.

$850? Doesn't seem bad to me. My dealer quoted me something north of $1500. In the end I had it done by a local shop when the engine was torn down due to a head gasket failure. Lightly used manifolds+new gaskets=quiet truck, problem solved.

 

[Nicholas Passarelli]

i own a 00 tundra 4.7l i have the same problem with a cracked manifold though even if the truck has been running for hours the tick is still there i'm not sure if it's just a bigger crack and if this might cause a power loss or if it is bad for the engine should i get it fixed or is it fine to run like that.

 

[H2O_MAN]

I cured the ticking sound on my '02 4.7L back in '05 when I replaced the OEM manifolds with JBA cat-forward headers, that was about 120 miles ago. No ticking today.

 

[steeve725]

I didn't cure my cold tick after spending a bunch of money on JBA headers, percy's 66080 and remflex collector gaskets. They where installed by a local shop.

Mine still ticks when cold and goes away after warm.

Yes, it would seem like there's an issue with the headers or gaskets, but 3 exhaust shops and an exhaust guy near by can't find any leaks and everyone who's looked at it claim it's not the exhaust.

I'm going to try and find a shop that has a smoke machine to rule out the exhaust for sure.

 

[Bradyb123]

Yeah it's was the manifolds, I took to a shop in Tualatin,OR, called the Toy Doctor. Specializes in Toyota. Good shop, would recommend going there if you're in Vancouver WA/Portland,OR area. Quick turnaround, cost about 1150 for both sides. Thanks for all the responses. Now I get to fix other things.

 

[adammilne]

Thanks for sharing the information.,..