does anyone elses car make a loud ticking noise when it is running...it is audible especially at idle but you can't hear it over the engine at higher rpm's...it is timed with the engine so as the rpm's come up the ticking speeds up...i can't remember if the car did this when new or not? but it doesn't seem to affect performance...(my best time is 15.2) it is just starting to annoy me...i know that the valva lash is hydraulically adjusted so what could it be?...stealership told me injector pulse but if that was the case you should be able to hear it on just about all feul injected cars.... when you put your ear right next to the UIM it seems to come from right under the feul rail though so maybe this is possible... i'm at a loss. anybody else out there have this problem?

It could very well be an injector, in which case it should be a fairly easy fix. There are other possibilities, though. I found this in the archives:

Linky

thanks hetfield. i have exhausted the archives now and decided that it must be one of three things...1) serpentine belt, although in my case i doubt this. 2) feul injector pulse, but i doubt this as well...i would think that this noise is to faint to be heard outside the engine compartment. i can hear my noise from about 8 feet away with the hood closed. 3) lifter, seems like this would cause some sort of performance loss but i could be wrong. i guess i will have to experiment i was hoping to find a definitive answer seeing as how so many duratec owners have experienced this

if it was fuel system related it should adversely affect your performance. could be a heat shield or lifters...