Idle or revved, warm or cold mine is always ticky. I have noticed when i star the oil gauge takes a few seconds to jump from 0 to 40+. I assumed this was simply weird gauge behavior, not really a problem. After that oil pressure climbs during load, 40 at idle. After some time it settles at 40. Never lower.

 

Mine is pretty much the same, but, will get down to 20 when the engine is fully warmed, at idle. (which is still fine as far as I am concerned.... not like these gauges are highly accurate in any event....) I would suggest pulling the valve covers, and check for anything loose, but, for the passenger side, that involves pulling the top half of the intake as well.

 

I've also heard someone's exhaust manifold leak sounding similar... except I don't think their made that noise at idle.

 

Oh, on mine, it is most certainly lifter noise. Worse when first starting off... the trans REALLY likes to hold on to first gear, and when the engine gets above 2500 RPM, they are really noisy. So, still two problems to solve there. I don't drive it much, so, haven't really done much troubleshooting yet. The scanner I have won't tell me what I want to know anyway...... I need better software. (Windows PC)

 

Yeah, depending on my driving style that day I shift out between 2000 and 2400 rpm.

My noises seem to compete a lifter tick that I hear consistently well over 2000 rpm (it' less prominent under) and something else.

To add to confusion I get a little chatter from the cats, and a squeal from the tailpipe hanger. I'm just a jumble of little noises that I'll dea with one at a time.

 

Depending on financials come spring, I may actually replace my lifters, and see if that changes anything... Only problem is, which lifters to use? If the stock are the 'bleed-down' type, I don't want to put those back in..... and have the same problem. Would be nice if I could find confirmation one way or the other on if they actually ARE the fast bleed-down fellers.....

 

I have the identical issue and came across this old thread. But nobody ever said if they figured it out.

 

Unfortunately, I still have the problem. Haven't had the cash/motivation to go after it. It hasn't gotten any worse though.

 

That's unfortunate.
when I'm on the highway in tow-haul mode I'm right in that rpm range where the lifter noise occurs.
I'm having a buddy that owns a mechanical shop look at it in the next week or so.
If we figure anything out I'll post it here.
Thanks!

 

From what I read, it isn't an uncommon problem on these motors.... Trouble is, no one ever posted an actual fix.... I *suspect* changing lifters may solve it, but, they ain't cheap, gotta dig pretty deep to get 'em, and I just don't care to do that much work myself any more. Yeah. Old and lazy.