5.4, 3 valve Engine Tick

[reklaw]

WOW, considering all the videos that FordTekMakULoco puts out about this subject there aren't too many posts on it.

Anyway, 2008 King Ranch with the 5.4L 3 Valve engine with 158,000 and I put 58k of those on myself in the last 2 years. I also just changed the oil and yes I'm running the factory specified 5w-20. I was already sure I had the cracked bolt on the passenger side exhaust manifold but while towing my camper it developed the tick that is very loud and noticeable at startup and then goes away within about 15-30 seconds. From everything I've seen, that is the sure fire sign of a bad roller follower. One thing I haven't heard about this issue is that I can hear the ticking through the HVAC vent while under load. It's not loud mind you but I haven't heard anyone mention this.

I'm looking for advice on further diagnosis without pulling the valve covers. From everything I've seen a tick like this could mean the phasers, the roller followers, a broken timing chain guide, or maybe even a timing chain tensioner(not sure if that's actually a thing)?

So, any suggestions?

 

[S20Workstation4]

If the tick goes away within 1 minute, it is the exhaust manifold causing the noise. The broken-stud manifold is noisy on startup because it's separated from the block, and then goes quiet because thermal expansion seals the manifold. The Manifold tick will gradually get longer on cold starts, and then eventually get loud under heavy load/acceleration.

Any timing component-related tick would last for as long as the vehicle is running, and would not go away.