Constant ticking @ top of engine... lifter?

Ronnie t said:

Always worth checking/double check manifolds, they all get to a point of air leak somewhere

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Ronnie t said:

Well, if it goes away after it kicks down and idles, most likely it's exhaust manifold/s

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Ronnie t said:

Always worth checking/double check manifolds, they all get to a point of air leak somewhere

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Professor L Gee said:

I'll check out the VLOM once I get in there regardless. I think I do have the updated one, after some more reading and comparing.

Valve cover pic, as requested, showing not-unexpected coating and varnishing. The passenger gasket looks halfway ok, but the driver-side one is cracked in a few places:
View attachment 374574

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Just Fishing said:

Looks like you figured it out, a stuck lifter.
Being on #1 that should be really easy to try the hammer method to unstick it if not too bad.

With that amount of sludge, i would tread very carefully with any sort of crank case cleaning agent like seafoam.

I might try seafoam down the intake/smoke out the neighbors method in hopes of cleaning up carbon that might have gummed rings.

But once you have it fixed up, do some oil changes at 3k miles using a quality full synthetic to slowly remove the gunk.

I hope you get it unstuck w/o having to pull the heads!

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iamdub said:

I've seen worse, but that's still nothing to ignore. Even at 183K, it doesn't mean it WILL look like that. If there's hard carbon and varnish on the valve covers and insides of the heads, then it's in your entire oil system. A tiny piece of that carbon could be stuck in that #1 lifter, keeping it from pumping up. I'm not a fan of using harsh chemicals to quickly break up carbon deposits. This is exactly how chunks do damage. Tons of smoke out the exhaust doesn't necessarily mean it's breaking up and burning carbon. Most of that is just the Seafoam burning. Using detergents in high quality oil to dissolve the deposits to a liquid state, or at least very small/fine particles to carry them to the filter and out through an oil drain is safest.

This is mine at around 190,000ish miles: https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/growing-up-doesnt-have-to-suck.93510/post-1330358

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Professor L Gee said:

See, now I'm jealous of your valvetrain.

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iamdub said:

Just gotta let the detergents in GOOD oils do their thang. They do work and are certainly worth the extra cost.

I think you should try to unstick that lifter. If it works, disable AFM then stick to using quality synthetic oil and a good filter. Change the oil when it gets dark, whether it be 2,000 miles or 5,000. It getting dark means it's dissolving the crud in the engine, suspending it and carrying it out when drained, just as it's supposed to do. As the insides are cleaned, it'll take longer and longer for the oil to get dark. Eventually, you'll reach a point where you can stick to a regular schedule that's convenient for you. I change mine every 5K. It's excessive, especially with how the oil looks after 5K, and I can go much longer. But, I rotate the tires at the same time I do oil since I already have it up off the ground and I wouldn't go more than about 6K on a rotation. 5K is a little more careful maintenance and just an easier interval to remember since multiples of 5 is easier than multiples of 6.

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iamdub said:

Excuse the teenage text/tiktok speak, but that sounds "lifter af". Have you always ran full synthetic and performed oil changes regularly? If not, you could have some gunk built up and the high quality detergents in the HMFS oil began breaking down the gunk. A tiny piece could've gotten stuck in a lifter, keeping it from pumping up. I've seen this fixed by a few hard WOT runs to use the higher oil pressures to force its way in. Not suggesting you try this, but not not suggesting it, either. If the lifter has actually failed, it will need replacing.

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