Had this 04 Tribute about 2 months. So far an absolute nightmare. Mazda dealer about 50 miles away are nothing but a bunch of clowns. Loacl Ford dealer will not even try to help.

Had a rattle/tick develop at cold start, after driving just about a half block away after the engine heats up the noise goes away. The noise does not start until you put the car in drive and start to pull away. Took it to my mechanic and he thought it might be a conveter going bad. Took it to a muffler shop, exhaust checked fine except for a crack in the egr pipe. Listened with his set of "ears" and he said that the noise was from the creck in the egr pipe. Said the reason the noise went away after warm up is due to the pipe "sealing itself" after expanding. This makes common sense but is this really what is happening.

I have been trying to get a new pipe but the Mazda folks have no clue what I am talking about. Finally found one online.

Now my engine has developed a new constant "tick'tick, tick" (something we would refer to in the good ole days as an exhaust tick.

Now to my question. Will a crack in the egr pipe cause the rattle/tick on cold start and, now, I would assume after cracking more lead to the "ticking?
Any help is appreciated. This may be my first and last Mazda.

 

Holy Drama Queen.. "Nightmare"

Just go to a scrap yard, get a EGR Tube and replace it. Or get a welder to fix the tube..

No Drama.

 

I am with you. Salvage yards will not even talk about it. It looks like the tube has already been welded before. Any idea if this cracked pipe will cause the symptoms?
I appreciate the help.

 

Because it is part of the Ex system, any hole will be loud. It's likely not going to help the performance of the engine if its broken.

Find a welder and ask him if he can build a new one. It will be much cheaper than going to Mazda Me thinks.

 

I need to replace my EGR valve due to a "P0401" error code I've been getting for a while now. My Haynes Tribute manual, states that the EGR tube MUST be replaced if the EGR valve is ever disconnected from the tube. Is this really true? Replacing the valve seems easy enough, but the tube looks like a real pain in the a$$ and I would rather leave it in place if possible. Has anyone on this forum replaced a Tribute EGR valve and can share their experience?

 

There's tons of EGR lore out there. The worst problem is the exhaust port gets crudded up and eventually clogs over time, giving rise to the DTC code. Changing the EGR valve or solenoid does no good. The exhaust port literally has to be reamed out using a drill, dremel, or whatever. Haynes is therefore not strictly correct.
The symptoms you describe might be valve related. Have you tried lifting the oil filler cap and having a listen to what's going on? You described it as an "exhaust tick", and you could be absolutely right, more important, it's not hard or costly to fix.
I'm a great believer in using long handled screwdrivers and pieces of 1/4 in. dia. tubing to earscope my way around the engine to locate those mysterious ticks and wheezes before I'll spend a dime on anything.