Taco sounds like a sprinkler

I'm the same way, I used to be a hypochondriac with my truck especially when I first joined this site.
Its good to be vigilant about your truck's overall well being but there's a healthy balance to strive for between being attentive and being paranoid... though thats sometimes easier said than done lol

 

I haven’t had my IAC off yet to see how dirty it is but what would you guys recommend for cleaning it?
I’m thinking using CRC electronics cleaner just to avoid having carb cleaner getting on the electronics

 

Most of my paranoia comes from realizing how little the previous owner took care of the truck and that he didn’t own it long, and it got the pink milkshake, but PO did a decent job to cover it up. I didn’t notice until it started slipping so I checked the fluid, and realized that the radiator overflow tank still had the trans/coolant still in it. And the more I dive into things the more I realize it wasn’t cared for as much as it deserved. But being my first real truck purchase I got stoked and over looked those things. At least it’s rust free, which is what matters most to me, I love wrenching on the engine but not really on cosmetics. Other than upgrades haha

 

We all have that. One of my first project cars had (past tense) a big suitcase muffler that filled up with water from short engine runs after I did a lot of work on it. I was convinced that I had a blown head gasket from the exhaust steam. So I bought the tester and couldn't find evidence of a leak. Once day I had the suitcase muffler cut off to give the V8 a deeper voice. When a shop cut the muffler off at least 1/2 gallon of water spilled all over the shop floor.

 

I’m not at home right now to take a picture but yes it’s stock engine intake.
This isn’t my truck but this intake has the exact same parts mine has.
That’s what I thought maybe, that’s why I want to try to do a smoke test to start ruling things out

 

Do the soap test on the components up to the throttle body to rule that out. Could have a crack somewhere

 

on the back of the 3.4 there are a number of kind of hard to get to vacuum lines. One is for the fuel pressure regulator and on the back of each head there is a vacuum port that feeds the to the air passage under the injectors. There is also a plastic Y.

 

Man, I'm having the exact same problem as you, @Ccrowe323. Same location, same noise, and mine started after I did the silicone hoses too... but I I also had the plenum off for another project. I have high LTFT during idle (around +11) that goes back to zero when on the throttle. I did the water test (dumped a bunch of water on the area I hear the leak coming from) and I started to get misfires and steam out of the tailpipe. So it's for sure a big vacuum leak, just can't see it back there. Did you ever find yours?

 

Not yet, I’ve just kinda lived with it. It bounces at idle when cold but not too much, but I’m about to do my valve cover gaskets and I will be replacing both the upper and lower intake plenum gaskets, in hopes that maybe just the intake gasket is bad and it solves that issue so I can fix two problems on one job.
I might try lightly spraying a very small amount of starter fluid around the intake manifold gasket and a couple vacuum hoses In the area to try and pin point the leak. I’ll be replacing the vacuum hoses and gaskets anyways so spraying them won’t matter, just have to try not to spray too much or over spray on other parts. I’ll update when I do, and wether changing both upper and lower gaskets fix my problem.