1997 Mazda B4000 transmission ticking

[97Mazda4000]

Manual transmission ticking when in gear and when the gas pedal is pressed, all gears. It's been doing it for over a year (should have checked sooner, my bad, I know). I've drained the fluid and now metal chunks, so from what I can tell it's not internal, it does sometimes have trouble going into lower gears but that seems to be a different thing (synchronizer...?). The transmission had a rebuild and a new clutch shortly after the rebuild. I took over the project from someone else who did the rebuild, I put in the new clutch and throwout bearing when I put the engine in, the ticking has been happening the whole time I've had the truck, thought it was a normal thing until I drove another ranger with the same setup. Any ideas would be appreciated

 

[SenorNoob]

Does it do it if you rev it in neutral? Reverse too?

 

[97Mazda4000]

No for neutral and I'll have to double check in reverse...

 

[Shran]

Did someone put zip ties on the driveshaft as a joke?

Could be something like a loose heat shield on a catalytic converter, wiring connector loose & bouncing on something, etc. Lot of possibilities.

 

[97Mazda4000]

Lol I wish
Good point, I'll take a look
now that I think about it, when i have the window open and can hear it better, it almost sounds like a bit of compressed air being pushed out of a compressor...could it possibly be an exhaust leak or misfire making that noise...? could be dumb question, I haven't had either of those problems before, and there are no codes being thrown, so I wouldn't be sure what to look for, would be odd that it would only appear in when in gear as well. The sound could also just be an effect of the sound being carried.

 

[Shran]

If you have a cracked exhaust manifold or the gasket blown out it can definitely make a ticking sound. A bad spark plug wire arcing out on something could do that too but not cause any running issues - it's tough to narrow down sometimes. Listen carefully under the hood - old trick is to put a piece of rubber fuel hose in your ear and hold the other end up to stuff, kinda like a stethoscope.

 

[97Mazda4000]

ok that might just be it. Ill check that out too. Could it be that at low rpm the exhaust does not have enough pressure to go through the leak and only when it is put in gear and there is an increase in load/rpm that it would make a noise?

 

[Shran]

Yes. I have a blown out exhaust gasket in my Jeep right now on one cylinder and it is quiet at idle. It makes a very noticeable ticking sound when driving. Sometimes when the engine is warm it will almost go away entirely. What clued me in on that was a bit of carbon in a weird spot on the head- and I can feel exhaust coming out when it’s running.