Ticking!!!!!!

i have a 97 rodeo and it has 148,000 miles on it and it ticks constantly. some days louder than others, but it drives me crazy :banghead: . before it was just a slow tick, and now it has gotten worse and ticks very fast and sounds kinda like a disiel motor.....any ideas of what it could be and how it can be fixed? :frown:

Lots of people said timing belt tensioner....when was the last time that was changed? Check my post below "really loud knocking/ timing???". I had the same noise. The noise coincided with the RPM's. as they went up the sound sped up. My timing belt had jumped a tooth or 4 and the engine lost power and turned over two-three times before it started. put a new timing belt off ebay on there(hard to line up) with only two of the 3 marks necessary for installation. Started it up and stil had the sound and timing was way off. Bought a new belt from the honda dealership (72.00) and put it on and started right up no more ticking/knocking. Athough timing doesnt seem to be quite where i think it should be the truck runs fine and the power is back and more importantly the ticking is mostly gone. A guy also told me Fram oil filters make these engines tick. I currently have a fram on there and I'm changing it this weekedn so i'll post my results. I tried seafoam, ATF in the engine, Mobil 1 Ow-30.......I guess they helped a little but the sound never completely went away. Hell of a lot quiter though! I also read about a bracket on the passenger side exhaust in front of the cat that has a round weight like thing that will cause a tick if it is broken and hanging against the exhaust.

im not sure when it was changed but yea thats how mine does, and i have also lost a lot of gas milage....i used to get 15 but now i only get 13 and i have lost a lot of power

sounds like you need t-belt and tensioner. Whhile your in there you should also change the water pump since it's right theres. 5-6 extra bolts. I would def go with a t-belt from a dealership or just verify that the one you get has THREE timing marks.!!! Very hard to align without it

Lots of sites said to remove radiator and hoses while doing this...I opted not to and had ample space to maneuver. Was easier for me to cut a piece of plywood and mount it behind the radiator to keep from damging it. But if your hoses r bad you might as well change them too. All together the job cost me bout $220. Just post if you run into any troubnle

DEFINITELY change as many coolant hoses as possible - this coming from someone with the same age truck as both of you two, specially the heater core hoses, trust me they're shot!