Hi all! So right now everything is good with my rig except one annoyance! Sometimes the valve lifters tick at idle. It usually goes away while driving around.

I have about 140k miles. I always run Mobil 1 synthetic 10w40. It's a 2002 Sporty.

Is there anything simple I can do about this? Any oil additive etc? Or is there even any reason to worry about the ticking?

Funny thing, I remember my previous Sporty, a 96 with about 100k miles, did the same exact thing. It always bugged M me because it was the only thing that didn't sound great about the engine. Only reason I got rid of that rig was a drunk driver hit it and totaled it!

My lifters tick for less than 30 seconds at start up from sitting cold, until the oil flow pumps them up. You can try an additive to clean them up a bit. I've used Marvel Mystery Oil - the kind you can add to the engine oil or fuel. I've used it in both. I can't say it did wonders. But it didn't do any harm.

One thing I've found on my Sporty is that for the longest time, I thought the lifters were ticking. Then I discovered there's a valve of some sort in the emissions system on the engine, in the nest of vacuum lines on the right-front of the engine. That's where my ticking comes from when the engine is running. As noted, I do have ticking lifters on a cold start. But the ticking I get on a hot engine is that part in the vacuum system. I'm just throwing that out there...

If you have weak or collapsed lifters, you'll definitely experience a drop in performance to some extent. I looked into replacing the lifters when I thought mine were dying. But you basically have to replace the cams and lifters together so they wear properly. And for the price of those parts, you can buy a rebuilt head ready to bolt on. So if you ever come to the point of needing to replace the lifters or a cam, buy the head. Again, just throwing that out there... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/baby.gif" alt="" />

Hope that helps in some way, shape or form... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

Thanks, that does help! It is entirely possible that the ticking I'm hearing is the evap thingy. I will check that! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />