02 SL1 engine "ticking"

I have a 2002 Saturn SL1 SOHC manual with 34,000 miles on I bought brand new. I have extended warranty. It started idling rougher with a ticking noise about 2000 miles ago. This was very quiet but the noise eventually grew louder causing poorer gas milege, troubles accelerating while passing cars, dogging the engine down uphill and so on. I initially took the car to the Saturn dealer to have it checked for a enigine ticking noise and a muffler popping noise that developed. The mechanic replaced the manifold gasket and changed the oil filter. We already had a FRAM oil filter on, they told us that the saturn filters were made by FRAM also so this shouldn't make a difference but they wanted to replace it because our filter might not have been causing enough oil presure to get oil over everything. Got the car back the muffler noise is mostly gone yet the engine ticking is still there. 2nd time at the dealer they say nothing wrong didn't open the hood until we told them to, then they heard the ticking yet. Told us the timing chain was loose, they tightened it, I insisted they put a new one in if the orginal was going bad already. They replaced the timing chain which has quieted the ticking noise, yet there is still a ticking noise that seems to come from the top of the engine. I have a 3rd appt set up to go back
The dealer has told us from the beginning that this ticking is normal we have been fighting with them to try to get this probelm fixed.
Does anyone have suggestions as to what this may be or what I could do with my car?

first, try to find another saturn dealership in your area.

my theory -

how offen do you change the oil? i have seen this on higher mileage engines but a few lower mileage engines that have been abused with a lack of oil changes. how fast does the oil get dirty/black? when the timing chain starts to wear(by the way its automatic adjusting, it can't be tighten by hand unless the tensioner was broken) it sometimes takes the guides with it, the guides are made of plastic, the plastic start to get chewed up and little parts of the plastic get in the oil, causing the oil to get dark fast and limit the supply of oil to the valves lifters, causing the ticking noise.

a couple of oil changes with synthetic oil may clean out the oiling system, assuming they replaced the guides with the chain.

Thank you for your thoughts.

I NEVER let the car go over 3500 on an oil and filter change whether it be 2 days or 2 month. I Know the mechanic told me the last time I talked to them While he was changing the parts, that he was changing the chain, Guides, Gears, and tensioner, he also changed oil after to get out any gasket particals that may have fallen into the oil. (extra, I always use Vavoline 5W/30 with fram standard oil filters.)

good, they replace the whole set(the parts come in a kit for about $200) as oppised to just the chain(maybe $30).

vavoline is good, but 90% of the oil fanatics i know consider fram to be the worst filter you can buy(some say worse then no-name brands) i honstly don't know for myself, but with that many people telling me bad things, i'm not going to take any chances. you can check out www.bobistheoilguy.com on this if you want. but for the oil if you are thinking about running synthedic for a while i suggest Mobil 1 or if that is not available then Shell, but stick with 3000 miles, don't go to 15K as some synthedics advertise.

also if this contines to be a problem, you may want to remove the valve cover and inspect the valve train. i also first noticed the tiny parts of the guide on my car when i did.

Might be your motor mounts. I have a Saturn SL1 and I had the same exact problem - A ticking noise that got louder with time. Would always change oil on time, yet noise continued.

Turned out to be the motor mounts. Might be the same situation.