Need help diagnosing a potential problem

[kobusLifeRemotely]

I have a 1997 4Runner SR5 with 160K miles on the dial. About 5K miles ago I started to hear a kind of soft cracking / rapid ticking sound coming from the left front of the engine bay. Now it is a little louder, and starting to worry me

This sound is only when the engine is under stress, like going uphill or pulling away.

There does not seem to be any loss of power, smell or smoke, and I cannot replicate the sound when idling or revving with the hood open or closed.

The fluids all look good, it is not burning or using any oil. The plugs all look good and there does not seems to be any damage to the wiring anywhere.

Any Ideas?

 

[thor999]

I experienced that same thing starting out on a 500mi road trip, and sure enough developed an exhaust leak and blew a spark plug halfway through (in my '86 Toy PU) so got to drive the second half loud as all hell and on 3 cylinders :crybaby:

 

[jonwilly2]

mine did that 40000 miles ago check your spark plugs they might have something to say. I had a bad injector and it was running really lean I havent herd it in a long time when my dad gave me the keys i got a gallon of lucas oil fuel injector cleaner ran a couple of those over the course of 5 months and I have never had any of those sounds.