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My 1.8L V6 ticks after starting and after running a while it stops. My buddy just told me my lifters probably need to be replaced. And my mechanic said it could be low oil pressure. The previous owner told me what he thought it was but I can't for the life of me remember what he said. Anyone know what my problem might be?

Edit: both suggestions were made without looking at the engine!

If it sounds like its coming from the top of your engine, its probably your HLA's. HLA stands for Hydraulic Lash Adjuster. It is a result of small oil holes getting clogged and not allowing oil to enter, thus expanding the part. When it does not expand, it leaves space between the HLA and the cam and valve and it bounces back and forth making a slight tapping noise. The oil holes need to be cleaned to hopefully allow the HLA to expand. Could try some oil treatment. What type and weight oil do you run?

If you're running anything besides 5w30 or 10w30 the ticking might be caused by your oils thickness. You could try an oil change then put it oil stabilizer and see if it makes a difference, if that doesn't do it it's most likely what Solo mentioned.

Might be your injectors pulsating, on some cars they're more loud than others.

Thanks for the replies, no one suggested that. Bit of a relief haha not in my budget to do lifters! And I just bought the car but I believe the previous owner used 5w30 royal Purple oil. I think my next oil change is probably going to be a 10w30 cheaper oil from Canadian Tire or something. What kind of oil treatment are you thinking? And if untreated could this be a big problem?

if its a loud metal like tap that lasts past warm up its your friction gear springs. Case closed.

it could be a sticky lifter, best thing to do for a sticky lifter is when doing an oil change pour some diesel into the valve cover (where you add oil) let car run for about 10 minutes, drain the oil change filter etc. add new oil. works everytime.

aPROxSLASHER wrote:Thanks for the replies, no one suggested that. Bit of a relief haha not in my budget to do lifters! And I just bought the car but I believe the previous owner used 5w30 royal Purple oil. I think my next oil change is probably going to be a 10w30 cheaper oil from Canadian Tire or something. What kind of oil treatment are you thinking? And if untreated could this be a big problem?

If the prior owner used royal purple its most likely not the lifters and just friction gear springs like kulluminati777 said. Just do yourself a favor and dont cheap out and put cheap oil in it if its been treated to synthetic all its life, keep running synthetic in the 5w30. Any chance you can post a pic of what it looks like under your valve cover, a pic inside the head with the oil cap off by chance?

Yea sure. I use 5w20 or 5w30 synthetic oil depending on the weather and what's on sale, but I always use synthetic and have had no problems.

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z39 ... 5f7068.jpg