EGR System Driving me Nuts!

[Turdle]

Okay so I cut the heat shields off of the passenger side manifold. Surprisingly I didn't see a crack anywhere. What I did notice is white corrosive build-up around the 3rd (from the front) spark plug. I can't help but wonder if the ticking I am hearing is some sort of electric arcing caused by a bad wire? What do you guys think?

Could be a bad wire, or maybe a cracked spark plug.

Also, take a closer look at the header. Put a little stress on the egr nut while looking where the rear belly looking tube meets the 2 front tubes.

Edit,I found an old picture I took of a cracked header. It looked fine until we removed it, then it fell apart.

 

[sulaco83]

Great, removing the manifold looks like it's going to such big time. The bolts and studs look pretty seriously rusted, especially where they meet the y-pipe. If it wasn't so old I would replace the whole exhaust!