Ticking, Grinding, and Other Concerns!

Hello all! I have a 2002 Tundra TRD SR5 (4.7 iForce) that has just shy of 200,000 miles.

When at idle or low revs, I have noticed a fast ticking sound coming from my engine. I have a relatively new radiator, radiator fan, fan clutch, thermo, and belt. And it does run as cool as a cucumber. I am unsure as to where the ticking is coming from, or what is causing it due to lack of advanced mechanical knowledge. (Working on that however.) The ticking sounds like it’s coming from the block itself. It doesn’t sound like a knock, but I am wondering if a cylinder head is shot or something similar. Again, I’m not knowledgeable enough to diagnose myself.

I’ve noticed the noise in the past, and it pre-dates the work I mentioned above.

I have a new oil leak but no other glaring issues. I don’t seem to have an oil pressure problem but do smell a slight burning smell when exiting the vehicle.

Lately, I have noticed a significant loss of power, and the engine struggles at highway speeds. (75-80mph where I live.) This issue has started during the last month or so. I do a lot of highway traveling for work, and I average about an hour on said highway. I worry it is killing the truck.

Also, when on the highway and the engine overcompensates trying to get back lost speeds uphill, and revs increase above 3000-3500, I also notice a loud, metallic grinding sound coming from the engine. I no longer use cruise control and just try to gain as much speed downhill (within reason) before another uphill section begins, where I just let the truck lose speed and then repeat the process in hopes to cause as little stress as possible on the old man.

Sorry for the lengthy post, I have a video of the ticking noise at idle but it won’t let me post it here.
I’m also a new member and excited to be part of the community!

Cheers all!

(Re-upload to the 2000-2006 forum based on advice given from the general forum.)

 

Ticking: Normal for many of us. Read this thread, please.

Before I continue, never buy your parts on scAmazon and fleaBay. Use OEM (or OEM supplier) on your parts where possible. I'm going to mention parts here, offering that disclosure beforehand.

"Loss of power", can be any number of things, but quite possibly bad/cracked coils, old/wrong/counterfeit plugs, etc. Could be the fuel filter, but it typically isn't, I wouldn't unless someone replaced the factory filter with something aftermarket. Could be upstream O2 sensor. But the grinding is ... uh, weird and makes me think driveline. What does the grinding sound like?

Are you throwing any codes, or have any codes pending?

What do the plugs look like?

If coils and you want to refresh the coils ... DO NOT USE AFTERMARKET COILS. PERIOD. I don't want to need to link you to a bajillion threads where people failed to heed this warning. Buy Denso brand. DO NOT buy from a vendor like scAmazon or fleaBay which allows 3rd party sellers to provide you with product. Even major name brands like MSD that were typically great back in the day NOPE, skip. Problematic with these trucks.

 

I have to ask the obvious. Have you checked the oil? Is it full? What is the condition of it? Without video with good sound, it's really hard to diagnose noises. There are a lot of things in your description of the problems that would alarm me. 1. Ticking noise: valves? 2. Loss of power: That's not good. Try to get a video of this happening. 3. Metallic grinding: No bueno.
I think you need to upload the video to YouTube and then you can import it here.

 

Oh, and also some biggies ...

How long have you had the truck?

Knowing that engine will be a glorified boat anchor if the timing belt snaps at over 1000 RPM, and Toyota wants it replaced every 9yr/90k miles, when was the last time it was replaced? (I'm worried it may be about to snap, or stretched, timing is off at high RPM, etc.) or is that the "belt" you had changed? (there are two belts on front of engine, the serp, the timing)

Oh and does the ticking sound like this guy's? https://www.tundras.com/threads/source-of-chatter.144093/
(if so, that ticking is pretty normal)

 

Truck has been in the family since 2011, had around 79k on it if I remember correctly, possibly more.

Both the serpentine and timing belts were replaced with the fan clutch and other items around the same time. (Roughly 1 year)

I will work on getting a YouTube channel up and post videos to this thread, thanks for the advice!

The engine makes the metallic grinding sound even if in neutral, so would that eliminate it being an issue with driveline? Transmission may be shot but haven’t had any serious issues with it thus far.