Has anyone had experience with ticking from the engine. I haven't ever been inside an engine, can anyone confirm what this ticking is caused from? I'm confident the noise is coming from cylinder 3, as well as the spark plug wire is shaking a little (spark plugs and wires are fully plugged in).

video of ticking

 

Our engines are overhead cam so no lifters. The sound you are getting is the cam phasers. There are TSB's out on that issue:

http://cdn.lrsstatic.com/downloads/t...sb06-19-08.pdf

I don't recall anything major occurring due to the tick (more of a nuisance item) but, that was several years ago. I'm sure older engines may start having some other issues related to it.

 

Most commonly the noise is a fuel injector tick. There are other problems it could be, and here is a link to check out.

http://www.enginebuildermag.com/2009...4l-3v-engines/

 

could also be an exhaust leak. looks like you have aftermarket headers if I'm not mistaken.

 

It could be the lash adjusters. I had one seize up on me and it ate up one of the lobes on my ford racing hot rod cams. It was making a similar noise before I found out.

 

Go to Youtube and search some videos on Cam Phaser diagnosis. There is one there that has a ticking noise very similar to yours.

 

I'd start by tightening up the exhaust. I had a similar noise and one of the bolts where the midpipe connects to the manifold was loose. Makes an awful racket.

 

Look at the engine running in "complete dark" for arcing of plug wires. Be careful where your hands are when moving around in the dark! (That used to go for drive in movies too! ) It could also be a exhaust leak at one cylinder & the exhaust manifold as already mentioned. If not, take a wooden broom handle, or stethoscope & put it to your ear to the valve covers, etc. & see if you can find a loud ticking at one location. Look at your spark plugs. Are they all burning at a nice, even brown color. None white, or dark & oily? If so not, probably isn't a big deal to panic about immediately. YouTube is a good idea!

 

Not loud enough to be a phaser, its a lash adjuster. pull off the valve cover look for wear on the cam lobe.

 

Agree. The noise is probably coming either from the header flange or from one of the lash adjusters/cam followers.
Before you pull the valve cover, use a long piece of rubber pipe as a stethoscope to localize the sound.