Oil change

I had what is hopefully an easy question for everyone here. I just bought an 2003 with the v8 and it has 338,000 on it. The guy I bought it from said the engine was redone at 250,000. There is a little bit of lifter ticking that is there at startup and it never 100% goes away. After cruising for 10 minutes or so you can only hear it when you're somewhere the sound can bounce off of (street with buildings on either side).

Should I put any additives in before/after the oil change? Also, what weight oil and any particular filter?

 

You about to get a series of wide answers for such a broad symptom as ticking. However, having similar symptoms myself and doing some searching myself it’s pretty common for exhaust manifold or exhaust leaks to occur in these trucks. They are a weak spot due to the way they made them to cater to the emission testing of their time. The fact you say it goes away after some time shows that the metal heats up and expands thus helping the ticking go away a little. If this is the case the only permanent solution is to replace your headers but the general consensus is to spend the extra cash on quality aftermarket headers rather than OEM which is bound to give you the same issues at some point. Downside is that for my year and yours, most of the popular headers, espically long tube and mid length headers, have phased out becoming extremely rare to find. You can find a couple of shorty headers left which still beats OEM but doesn’t provide you the extra performance benefits. If it truely is a exhaust manifold, and you can stand the noise and it’s not throwing codes or noticeably hurting your mpg, id try to ignore it until the time comes you can pay for new headers so you don’t have to pay the labor over and over again.

granted the ticking can easily be sometime else and I’m sure other members will be better at giving suggestions, just providing one of the most common with our trucks. I’m waiting until my next go around at my shop to suggest they can check for a leak somewhere while they’re down there.

also what helps is providing a picture if you can trace the ticking to a certain point or a video that captures the sound!

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-you-wanna-buy-just-bought-a-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/


Also in terms of your other questions, I would suggest the following thread which is known to be the first stop for “basic” questions that is covered in some detail. For specific values and stuff, oil changes, it’s honestly better to refer to your owners manual or repair manual for the exact specs, Toyota made a million mile engine and know the best way to keep it that way. So I’m gonna spoil it for you and tell you most members stick with the OEM filter with 5w-30 oil. you’re free to play around make you change them regularly 5000k and don’t forget to grease your zerks at the same time.

Personally I use Mobil 1 Synthetic High Mileage as that is what the previous owner used regularly with little issues. (If it’s not broken don’t fix it)

below is a thread that has free owner manuals and guides in case you don’t have one

https://www.tundras.com/threads/1st...wners-manual-and-maintenance-schedules.91566/

 

The ticking is normal. My 75k mile 2006 V8 has the exact same ticking. At first I thought it was valvetrain chatter, but I think someone else on here was right when they said it's just the injectors. Whatever it is, I haven't heard a 4.7L 2UZ-FE that didn't have it (yet)

Stick with OEM filters. This is coming from a guy who loves Wix. Toyota's OEM filters are exceptional and not priced poorly if you buy in bulk. But really, read the 1st thread @atomicnugget linked, it'll answer a lot of other questions you didn't know you had.

 

OP is it a kinda of a metally rattle like tick? I swear where I’m in enclosed areas or gunning it down the highway I feel like I’m driving a blood stained rusty truck from a 90s horror flick. I can’t imagine that comes standard to all 2uz’s on purpose

 

Yep, you got the noise exactly. I never thought of it like that but that nailed it. I'll grab a video later of it and post.

 

I dunno, but you may also have the issue everyone else seems to with their steering shaft seal, allowing more noise into the cab. I feel like it was a bigger problem for the earlier year trucks. But yeah, the noise as described by others is 'almost like the ticking of a sewing machine', which I always though ironic, Toyota also made sewing machines bitd.

 

that might be the secret to Toyota reliability, model it after a sewing machine, which I have never seen one broken in my life

I thought about the seal being the culprit, but from my understanding that’s more so to prevent engine noise from penetrating the cabin, and not necessarily addressing the source. Like a passerby would still hear it from the outside or with open windows. But if your saying the ticking is normal, then maybe it’s just a noisy lady.

Or maybe I’m looking for an excuse to buy new headers

 

It's ticking because it's running. When you turn it off, the ticking goes away because engine is off.

 

but.. I still hear the ticking when I close my eyes at night

 

That's also normal. I often hear music.

 

Ahhhh. Yes. Her name was Stephanie. Strawberry blonde hair. Smelled good all over. Could suck a golf ball through a garden hose. Clawed the drywall out of the wall at the head of my bed. A wild untamed animal hunted by many. Cost me my damage deposit. I couldn't have been happier.

 

I've tried additives and ethanol free 91 octane gas and nothing gets rid of the ticking that I have. It sounds absolutely terrible on a cold-start but it eventually drowns out a little. Nature of the beast I guess.

 

My 1997 T-100, 3.4L V6, has had the tick since new. Once it warms up the tick is gone.

 

Positive it’s lifter ticking and not exhaust leak ticking? Common problem with these. You shouldn’t have lifter ticking in this motor, it’s DOHC. Something ain’t right. Those “lifter” buckets should be good for half a million miles or so easy. Curious why a 2UZ needed to be “redone” in the first place.

 

I’m leaning more toward exhaust leak too. But you brought up a good point to OP we all missed as to why a otherwise indestructible engine needed to be rebuilt during in which you could argue to be it’s prime mileage years.

 

Run some of this for 2k miles.. see if quiets things down.

https://www.advlubrication.com/collections/automotive-lubricants/products/engine-cleaner

Also, I'll make a fourth motion for checking for an exhaust tick. They can be trixy and imitate ticking lifters.

 

It sounds like you guys don't have this particular problem, which is good. It sounds like a deep knock in cold weather and a top end clatter/ticking in warmer weather. .. assuming OP and I are talking about the same thing and I think we are.

 

Ob

obviously not normal engine sounds. Needs deeper investigation. I wouldn't run mine if it sounded like that, I'd check the timing belt, probably take a peek under the valve covers, maybe even bore scope the cylinders.

 

Sometimes I wish we had an archive or library of videos of peoples ticks, rattles, grinding, etc. just so I know what type of ticks y’all are referring to . I’ll try my best to capture one for OP sometime soon to help narrow this down

 

I've had my truck a few months and it only has 80K miles but I don't notice or hear any ticking noise? I'm hoping one doesn't develop

 

More details, plz.

 

With all the short-trip driving your truck may've seen to achieve those low miles, you may not have ticking because there's an abundance of sludge built up, as other low-mile owners have found on this forum (I hope it's not the case, I can't remember if you've been in your valve covers or not, yet)

Must be nice, starting a couple years ago, the ringing in my ears tends to drown out the nonstop radio station in my head. Tinnitus is a bitch.

 

It ain't a Toyota if it ain't tickin'.

I have the same noise, pretty sure it's just the injectors.

Here's what mine sounds like when idling after it's all warmed up.

https://vimeo.com/850377267

 

do you get the same ticking but faster according to your acceleration while driving?

 

yessir

 

Same as my '06, too. And increases with RPM. That little tit-tit-tit-tit-tit, almost identical to a sewing machine if you removed the humming sewing machine motors make. Reminds me of rhythmically tapping a needle on a square piece of aluminum can or something.

 

Can't hear mine over the leaky Flowmaster

 

Guys I think I figured it out, just follow these steps…

1. let it idle for a couple minutes
2. Before you hit the road play 2023 top 10 pop hits.
3. Once the music starts, promptly press the sound toggle to shut off garbage
4. Enjoy the ticks that ensue for the rest of your drive, which no longer bother you.

yw

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBt8v97j8HE​