← All symptoms
Symptoms
Ticking, knocking, rattle or whine
What causes it depends on the engine. 60 documented failures on 24 engines list this among their signs. Pick your engine for the causes ranked, how to tell them apart and the usual fix.
7.3 Power Stroke (1994.5-2003)
3 known causes, most widespread: Water pump wear
6.0 Power Stroke (2003-2007)
3 known causes, most widespread: FICM (Fuel Injection Control Module) failure
6.4 Power Stroke (2008-2010)
2 known causes, most widespread: Compound turbo bearing-seal leaks
6.7 Power Stroke (2011-present)
3 known causes, most widespread: Dual-circuit cooling system leaks (radiator / crossover tube / degas bottle / water pump)
5.9 Cummins (1994-2007)
3 known causes, most widespread: Common-rail injector wear / nozzle carbon (03-07)
6.7 Cummins 2007-2018
7 known causes, most widespread: Holset VGT turbo sticking / actuator failure
6.7 Cummins 2019+
3 known causes, most widespread: Grid heater bolt and relay failures (2019+ 6.7)
Ram 1500 EcoDiesel (2014-2019)
1 known cause: Early rod/main bearing failures (bottom end)
Duramax LML (2011-2016)
2 known causes, most widespread: VGT turbo vane carbon / actuator wear (Garrett VVT)
Duramax L5P (2017-present)
1 known cause: VGT turbo electronic actuator failure (BorgWarner)
Duramax 3.0 (LM2/LZ0)
1 known cause: LZ0 crankshaft thrust bearing failure (GM bulletin 25-NA-307)
3.2 Power Stroke (Transit)
1 known cause: Turbo / VGT faults (oil in exhaust after turbo)
ProMaster EcoDiesel (2014-2016)
1 known cause: Turbo and charge-air path
Sprinter 3.0 V6 (OM642)
1 known cause: Turbo boost control: VNT actuator, leaks, limp episodes
Sprinter 2.1 (OM651)
2 known causes, most widespread: Injector seal blow-by ('black death')
Triton (gas)
5 known causes, most widespread: Spark plug ejection / stripped plug threads (2V heads)
6.2 Boss (gas)
2 known causes, most widespread: Cooling service (water pump / thermostat / degas)
7.3 Godzilla (gas)
4 known causes, most widespread: Cam lobe and lifter (tappet) wear, worst with long idling
3.5 EcoBoost (gas)
4 known causes, most widespread: Cam phaser / VCT rattle and cam-timing DTCs
6.4 HEMI (gas)
3 known causes, most widespread: Lifter / cam wear (HEMI tick source #2)
ProMaster 3.6 (gas)
1 known cause: 'Pentastar tick': rocker arms, hydraulic lash adjusters, cam damage
GM 6.0 / 8.1 Vortec (gas)
2 known causes, most widespread: Exhaust manifold bolt breakage (cold-start tick)
GM 6.0 L96 (gas)
4 known causes, most widespread: Fuel delivery: pump, injectors, pressure (L96/LY6)
GM 6.6 L8T (gas)
1 known cause: Valvetrain hardware failures: lifters, valves (no AFM - attribution guard)
Built from the failure-mode records on this site: a failure is listed when its own symptom list describes this sign. Engines not shown have no documented failure with it in our records. How we tier and source facts.