so my blazer is making a tapping noise on a cold start (2000 4.3 vortec 4x4). i had my dad look at it and he thinks its a slow lifter...so other then pulling the motor apart, do u guys have any ideas on something i can try? Do you think one of them K&N oil filters with the anit-drain back valves would work?

 

k&n filter is around $15 just go with a WIX filter. same protection with antidrainback and is only around $5 at o-riley auto.

 

Do you think that would help my problem? Btw I noticed it does it everytime you start it, cold or warm

 

My bet is there is a little piece of something stuck in the lifter valving. I have an old truck with 225000 miles. If I go too long on an oil change, it starts to tick. I run a can of seafoam through it for about 20 at idle then change the oil. It usually takes care of it. I dont like suggesting snake oil but in this case it worked for me.

If its only one lifter ticking, Im not sure a different oil filter would make a difference. Just my opinion

 

Whoever had it before me just had the oil changed from a big dealership in ohio. after it runs for a few seconds it stops doing it, so i thought maybe if all the oil dont drain back then it would help...i dont know. My dad says just drive it, but man this will drive me crazy lol. I might try a can of seafoam and see what happens. thanks

 

I have had the same issue with a few s-10 trucks and my current blazer.
The blazer wasn't so much a drain back problem as a sludge problem.
At 170k the few seconds of ticking got longer and longer over the period of a week until it became constant.
I tried motor flush, seafoam, oil changes all the easy fixes.
Eventually pulled the motor, and found I smoked the cam and a glob of oil sludge in the pan the size of a baseball.
Sludge was thick like grape jelly and I think it was getting clogged in the oil pickup.

 

this one has 106k right now, and the oil is pretty clean on it still. Im really not sure what to do with it. do i pull the valve covers, oil pan ect and see if i can get it before it gets worse or what? its going to be getting cold soon so im like ugh...wish i lived in florida.

 

My truck ('99 4x4) had a horrible lifter tick that scared the hell out of me the first time it did it. It just so happened it was going in to have the lower intake manifold gaskets changed so I told the mechanic and they told me they'd run a cleaner through the engine before they worked on it (coolant went in oil during change) and since then it has been quiet. Still hear a faint tick when cold, but you have to be next to it without the fan running running to hear it. They said it was sticking, something built up. I wish I knew what that cleaner stuff was called. Here's what mine sounded like when it got cool out. Was just pure luck it did it before I took it in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?nomobile=1&v=erZC7nY37xQ
This damn phone wont let me embed it

 

stupid work filters, cant watch the video lol. Maybe ill get lucky and some kind of cleaner will fix it...not hopeful but i cant try. ill try and get a video for you guys.

 

kinda old but... somebody tell me why this tick will go away and come back. it did it for a few days, the reason i made this thread, then it went away for a few days, came back for 1 day and now its gone again.