Ticking in a 99 v6

[sman]

My car has always had a little valve train noise, but lately especially on startup or after a long drive its very noticeable, even in the car. Any easy steps I could take to figure anything out? Its getting loud enough to concern me.

[97rs4life]

listen and see if it is coming from under the valve covers or from an injector on the fuel rail first

[craig62989]

you better prey to the car gods that it aint a crank. i had a ticking in my blazer and it was the crank.

[93formulalt1]

I have a ticking in my engine as well. . . I was told it was an exhaust leak at the manifolds that caused the noise. Probably a lifter or something. How many miles does the car have?

[sman]

Definitely sounds like its coming from the head/valve cover area. Im 99% its not an injector, its to loud and metalish(is that a word?) sounding.

Car has 99k on it.

[93formulalt1]

Yeah, a metallic ticking from the valve cover is probably a sticky lifter or something similar. Doesn't sound like a bad crank, that would sound louder and sound like it was coming from underneath the engine. To fix a sticky lifter, I would suggest to do an oil change and add a bottle of STP to the oil. It could still be an exhaust manifold leak, as this will sound very similar to a sticky lifter.

Hope that helps!

[bri2203]

Some people swear by AUTO RX. I have used it in my oil around 85,000 miles and it got rid of the sludge that was in the bottom of my oil pan.

Some people notice better mileage, and higher compression. You have to buy the stuff online.

Brian