Ticking sounds

'99 Malibu 3.1L 236K miles A few months ago I could here a faint tick like a lifter when the car was first cranked, it would quickly go away. Two weeks ago the ticking became increasingly loud (very) on cold mornings (25 or colder) but would slowly go away as the car warmed up. It sounds more like an exhaust leak but sounds as if it is coming from under the intake manifold. I've messed with a lot of V8s and when a lifter is tapping, the sound doesn't usually get this loud and if it does it doesn't almost completely go away on warm up. You also normally hear a lifter tapping under the valve cover (loose on the push rods) but since these push rods go through the lower intake I don't know what it would sound like. The injectors have rubber boots so I can't easily pinpoint if one is responsible. Ideas?

Hi there, your problem could either be the valve lifters or fuel injectors. If not, it could be something called a "piston slap". It is nothing to worry about since this sound comes with most of the high mileage Malibu cars. What you can use is some Valvoline MaxLife. It can clean out most of the gunk and make the ticking sounds much lower. Valvoline MaxLife also helps the lifters if the noise is coming from there. What I wouldn't do is a motor flushing.

This engine has had some piston slap when cold for years, I'm used to that. This noise went from barely audible to embarrassingly loud over a two week period. I have had a TBI injector sound a little like this but not this loud.

Another thing is since the oil sits in the oil pan when not running in the cold, it causes the parts not to be lubricated right away making the noises in the engine. Once the car warms up, so does the oil and the noise would go away.