LETS FORGET ABOUT ADDING STUFF TO THE OIL IT HASNT WORKED FOR ME. I know that the last thing this forum needs is another "tick" post but i want to know that since numerous people have tried the additives, if it is possible to remove the valve cover or unbolt something or whatever, to physicaly clean whatever it is that is mking the tapping noise. or is the sound is coming from something in the compartment hitting up against something else and needs to be adjusted. IF SO HOW DO YOU DO IT ?!??!?!?!?!? I know that various engine noises can be caused by various things so to narrow it down my tick sounds like its in the topof the engine. OR IS IT EVEN WORTH IT. Im willing to sacrafice a saturday in the backyard to fix the problem.

LETS FORGET ABOUT ADDING STUFF TO THE OIL IT HASNT WORKED FOR ME. I know that the last thing this forum needs is another "tick" post but i want to know that since numerous people have tried the additives, if it is possible to remove the valve cover or unbolt something or whatever, to physicaly clean whatever it is that is mking the tapping noise. or is the sound is coming from something in the compartment hitting up against something else and needs to be adjusted. IF SO HOW DO YOU DO IT ?!??!?!?!?!? I know that various engine noises can be caused by various things so to narrow it down my tick sounds like its in the topof the engine. OR IS IT EVEN WORTH IT. Im willing to sacrafice a saturday in the backyard to fix the problem.

Seems like a pretty big job. To get at the lifters, you'd have to get the rocker arms out of the way, so ya probably have to take off the camshafts to remove the lifters. Then you can clean each lifter by hand, but if you're gonna go this far, might want to order new lifters. Eventually the tick will come back and you'd have to do it again. I don't know. I used to obsess over the tick myself, and its still a day to day thing, but I can honestly say I'm on the way to recovery. But these 'tick' posts don't help at all!!!!!

Some have done all that - new lifters and/or cleaning the lifters and the tick just comes back. It doesn't seem to matter, either, what oil people are using. Some have had better luck in deafening the sound with Mobil 1 products, but it's still there.

I'm beginning to wonder if mine has always "been there" and it just got louder in the sake of trying a few different oil filters.

Because, funny thing is, I'm back to an OEM filter and the truck is back to it's "normal" sound - but there is still a lifter tap, just VERY quiet now.

I've seen/heard hundreds of these trucks run forever even with VERY loud ticking - so I'm done experimenting.

My truck had always ran on Havoline dino 10w-30; and now it'll run on Havoline synthetic 10w-30. Whenever that's not avail, I'll grab the sister oil, Chevron Supreme with an OEM filter every 2K miles from here on out.

Only other oil that DID make a big difference in the "tick", however gave some lag to the truck, was the Rotella 5w-40. I loved the way that oil made the truck idle/run smoother, but I was leary to keep using it - it smelled too much like burnt fuel.

No point in using German Castrol either, it has got to be the worst oil for this engine - idles roughly, tick is very noticeable, and doesn't want to downshift as easily.

You do have to take the whole top of the valvetrain off to get at them. So it is possible but not easy.

Ramblin F. I was thinking of using the Rotella T synthetic for the heck of it. I just dumped a 1/2 can of the seafoam in and will change it next week.

I loved the Rotella, after about 300 miles. The 1st 300, the truck acted like the oil was just too thick - from there on out the truck ran GREAT on it.

Course our outside temps went from high 80's to low 100's in one weeks time - and I wonder if the hotter outside temp helped thin the oil out faster when running.

The ONLY reason I dumped it early - at 900 miles, is the dipstick smelled like fuel badly at 600 miles, then around 8-900 miles the whole truck smelled like burnt oil and fuel while running.

I couldn't stand it.

When I dumped the oil, there were streaks of separation, much like fuel in the oil.

I emailed Rotella/Shell about this and have never gotten a response, but while researching the forums on Rotella's website, some people were saying that they had gotten a hold of the 1-gallon blue jugs - same as myself - and that they wreaked of burnt oil.

No harm is supposedly happening from that - and I haven't noticed any problems with mine since running it - I'm just a bit irritated that they never responded to my e-mail of questioning.

what seems to be so good about rotella.its in every walmart and isnt even that expensive. i would think its the same as any nonsynthetic oil. my thing is that i dont think that rotella will make much difference. i get more of a difference from the synthetic stuff. but for the most part. is it not worth it to try to do it by hand. if not does anybody have the linkto the forum where we talked about adding the tranny fluid for a few intervals.

The Rotella 5w-40 IS synthetic oil - supposedly. Tapping was MUCH quieter and just seemed to smooth things out.

I also ran a cycle of the GC, German Castrol 0w-30 synthetic - I did NOT like it one bit. Made tapping REALLY loud.

All the tranny fluid does - in your crankcase - is thin the oil out, it does not have any cleaning properties. In which case, you could try running a thinner oil on it's own and see what happens.

I used atf in the oil of my 95 intrepid since day one. I hydrolocked it at 189,000 miles, and the insides were as clean as the day it was made. I does thin the oil a bit, but has excellent cleaning properties.