QuestOverload,
i think you are right about the lifters. i explained my ticking sound to my father in law and he immediately said it sounded like the lifters, so i did a search and came up with this post.
I will do an oil change and switch to a higher quality filter to see if it reduced the ticking.
My sypmtoms is just a ticking/clicking/knocking at start up when the engine is cold, within 10 seconds, the ticking stops.
Is this bad for the car at all, or just an annoying sound. i have done oil changes every 3k+, but always at jiffy lube, so I'm thinking their filters aren't very good quality and may have contributed to this.