Why such a thick oil? Doesn't Mitsu recommend 10W-30 for the 3.5L V6. I don't know how much that would affect your lifter noise, but I'd try the thinner oil (unless you switched for some reason).

This oil is the best spec suited for the weather conditions where I live. it is really really hot in here, and as I remember that the hotter it gets the thicker oil should be used, am I right?----- I feel that I am ranting clueless here

and once when I first got my truck 5 years ago I took it to the dealer for a sort of a major service, they used Castrol GTX 20w-50 for the oil, and it is the recommended oil sold in the dealer's parts store

but really, could this has somthing to do with the lifters???

If the oil is too thick might not be getting everywhere it is supposed to go... could cause some noises. Do you have an owner's manual? Go with whatever weight oil the owner's manual says - it'll have a chart that shows what grade is appropriate for various air temps.

Does the VLA noise change at all with warm vs. cold engine?

Has anyone answered the original question - do noisy VLAs hurt anything else? Mine are noisy too sometimes so I'd like an expert opinion too!

What are the average high temps over in Bahrain? From what I have looked at it seems about 100*f currently...I am no expert but I think 20/50 is way heavy? I use 10/30 (vs. 5/30) in the summer months...average's around 90-100*f.

I also have the tick upon COLD startup (temps about freezing overnight)...it goes away in about 30 seconds though.


X2

I suppose they could beat up the valve stem tips and the rockers could be slapping on the cam/lobes...but I think you'll mostly just experience some loss in power as the valves won't fully open for a full charge of fuel/air or exhaust. Of course the longer you run it that way the more the problem can compound.

They can and will beat up the tips of the valves over time.

Kevin C

well I took a look at the manual's chart and it is okay to go thinner, So soon I will change to 10/40. according to the manual I could go even lower than that.

I get the Cold start tick occasionally also, and as usual it goes away in less than a minute, It is just when the car is warm, this tapping noise is the annoying one, it just keeps coming and going

About the tempreture here, just last week it reached the 40 (104 F) mark and it is going up till it reached the 50 degrees(122 F) mark over May-September months, not to mention the 80%+ humidity. So the average could be around the 42(107 F)

Kevin.. after the "beat up the tips of the valves over time" what could or would happen?????

a 7 oz bottle of jones motor purr will stop the VLA'S

Never heard of the stuff. Where do you get it? Got a picture of the bottle?

It would be hard to get a total engine failure from a bad VLA. The valve tips get pitted and chipped from pounding and the noise gets annoying but thats about it.

I have never seen a bad set cause anything other than local dammage. It is best to fix it before it messes up the valve tips since repair of the valve tips requires removing the heads.

The noisey VLA on startup sounds like you have one leaker that is slow to pump back up. It probbaly makes noise only when it that valve ends up open over night. Under that load it may be leaking down. It should still pump right back up.

You have some high temeratures!!! Wow. IF there was ever a case for using the severe service maintenance schedule yours would be it. For that matter I would think synthetic oil would be a good call as well.

Good Luck,

Kevin