I am currently experiencing the exact same sound as was posted in the video link. I am guessing its the lifters, odd thing is, i'm not reading any codes, nor is the check engine light on. I have been reading all the different posts regarding the lifters all night, (none of which seem to have any follow up, the thread just dies). The sound just started out of the blue, it didnt start quiet and progress; one day i fired the jimmy up, and this "ticking" or knocking or whatever you want to call it, scared the bejeezus out of me.

Long story short, im in the middle of tearing the engine apart trying to find out what looks out of place, (im not a proffesional by any stretch of the imagination), i just hope i can fix it myself, or else my old jimmy will have to get tossed on the scrap heap...

If anyone has any insight it would be greatly appreciated

 

How is your oil pressure/level? If you have low oil pressure, that can reduce the amount of oil that is covering the lifters and can cause ticking noises too. Same with low oil levels.

 

my oil pressure is fine, it doesnt drop off like other people have mentioned has happened to them. Literally, out of nowhere, a loud ticking from the top of the engine, i have watched numerous videos of people experiencing the same sound, all of which identify the sound as either a (collapsed) lifter, or a bent pushrod. Most of the videos i have seen then recommend seafoam or some other additive, but i would rather fix the issue than just silence it. How hard will it be for me to replace the rods and lifters?

 

I dont think it would be that hard if you know how to work on cars. You need to remove the intake manifold and valve covers to get access to the lifters, rocker arms, and pushrods.

 

well, im not ENTIRELY useless when working on cars, but i could definitely use more photographs than the Haynes manual provides. I will see what i can do, and update this thread accordingly.

 

See if the bell housing around the starter is loose.

 

Yes,found 3 collapsed lifters. After a few months of ticking it started popping back through the intake,that's when I changed them...

 

I may have gotten lucky this time. I believe my ticking is related to low oil level. noise went away after adding a quart and driving a few miles. At 159k, just bought vehicle but haven't had a chance to change oil yet. gonna look into doing a full oil flush to clean this thing out. previous owner treated it like ****.

 

well, i said i would post an update when i thought my problem was fixed, so here i go. Before completely tearing my engine apart, i figured i would change the oil. So...I changed the oil, put a cheap filter on and cheap oil inside the crankcase. I then warmed it up to operating temp, (lifter and rod still banging away), then i poured a 5 minute engine flush in the engine, and ran it for the 5 required minutes, and the knock started to subside. I changed the oil yet again, put a good filter and quality oil in, and lo and behold...the knock came back the next morning. I decided to add half a can of seafoam to the crankcase, (that tamed the noise when up to operating temperature). After 50 km, changed the oil and filter AGAIN, (i had been told not to leave the seafoam in for too long).

TADAAA!!! the knock is now gone, even with a cold start. I had figured one of the lifters was just stuck and/or plugged up with crap.

now to replace those sludgy remote oil filter lines...

 

Nice! Im glad you finally got rid of that noise.