Cavalier making strange noise

I have a 2001 Chevy Cavalier 2.2L with 167000 miles. When I got the car it made a strange clicking noise that came from the engine once the engine got to temperature. Recently over time the noise has gotten louder and I really want to know what it is. It is only apparent when my car is idleing and goes away when the RPMs go up. The car still runs as strong as it use to when I first got it. A buddy of mine said that a lot of high mileage cavaliers make the same exact clicking noise i have experienced. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

I just retired from the Postal Service and I was a rural mailcarrier and I had to drive my own car on the route. I drove many cars that had well over 150,000 miles on them. Usually when they got that many miles on them the engine would make some kind of noise. The one product that actually slowed the oil consumption down and made the engine very quiet was the Lucas oil additive. I tried most of the others but there product worked the best. I also use to own a 1992 Dodge Stealth R/T with the 3.0L DOHC cam engine and it the engine was famous for having "lifter tick". The Lucas oil additive took care of it. I'm not promoting lucas oil products but have used them for years and in my case they worked. They do have a pretty good reputation. Hope this helps.

Yes this could be a valve lifter..... its really no big deal tho... but it sucks to hear it ticking.... its just the clearence is a bit off... which is coming from wear and tear. Just add some high qualtiy oil like mentioned above...
Remeber the the motor is getting older and needs better oils in there to prolong its life... Not really worth rebuilding the head..

bye :)

Thanks for the info, I will try that product out and see if that works.

I have used castrol high mileage oil since I got the car. Should that do the trick?

If it were me I would do the oil change and try the lucas oil additive. All you do is use 1 qt. of it instead of a quart of oil. It will cost around $7.50 a quart but I swear by it. It not only worked on my 92 Stealth I also had a 95 Dodge Spirit that had 170,000 miles on it and it was using oil bad. When I would start it up in the morning it would put out this huge cloud of blue smoke. I tried STP and it did very little. I tried the lucas and it got rid of the blue smoke and it also cut down on my engine using oil. Another product of there's that I have used through the years is there power steering additive. My power steering pumps would always start to leak because of high mileage and there additive would always slow the leaks down. Never once did I ever have a power steering pump go out. Just recently(2 months ago)I bought a 03 PT Cruiser with the intention of cleaning it up and reselling it. When I took the right front wheel off I noticed the steering rack had a leak where the bellow was. I cleaned it off and drove it for a few days just to see how bad the leak was. The leak was noticeable to the point where you could notice it. I drained most of the power steering out and replaced it with the lucas oil and within 3 days the leak stopped. If you do the oil change and use the lucas oil additive make sure you report back and let us know how it worked. It should work right away.

wow im wondering if i add some of that Lucas.. will it make my engine go better.. my engine only has 58,000 kms... should i add a little bit in the next oil change... ???

I think I will use it next time I do an oil change or probably before then. Thanks for the tips and I will be sure to let you know whether or not it stops that annoying ticking sound.