2001 Park Ave ticks when it's cold but runs perfectly fine when warm

[Christopher Bonnie]

okay, I just bought the car yesterday and I noticed an issue when I started the engine to show my coworker, the engine has a tick to it, it sounds like a lifter or a valve but when the engine warms up to peak temperature it runs smoothly with no noise. It has about 126k on the engine, I ran some mystery oil through it and changed the oil a few minutes ago because the oil that was in it was so thin it wasn't disturbing. What would cause this because I don't really need the car dying on me mid ride but I can't afford to have the engine torn down by a mechanic for it to be something simple. I've herd it could be carbon buildup causing the valves or lifters to not move freely and that I should seafoam the engine (which I herd does more harm then good on older engines). any ideas what could be causing this because I just bought the car and I've been going through a really rough patch and can't handle or afford any major mechanical work or getting towed home.

 

[ryenie]

http://www.walmart.com/ip/23598497?...76564832&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=81468837152&veh=sem, i would try running this in it before taking it to a garage and having it diagnosed and repaired. It's most likely a sticky lifter, which though not extremely difficult to do, it does require the upper and lower intake to come off to get to the lifter, so it won't be cheap.

 

[Christopher Bonnie]

It seems like the oil change did the trick, the ticking stopped after a day or so but the engine still has an occasional rough idle where it seems like it's loosing power for a split moment and then it's returning, I notice it when the rpms slightly drop and the lights tend to dim for a moment, next oil cycle I'm going to put one of those engine detergents like seafoam into the oil and run it for a few miles before I change it to break down the build up of excess grime in the engine and I just put a fuel injector cleaner in it when I topped it off after work to clean the valves and injectors, I'm going to call this /thread just because it seems to have been a sticky lifter with bad overly thin oil.

 

[Christopher Bonnie]

It seems like the oil change did the trick, the ticking stopped after a day or so but the engine still has an occasional rough idle where it seems like it's loosing power for a split moment and then it's returning, I notice it when the rpms slightly drop and the lights tend to dim for a moment, next oil cycle I'm going to put one of those engine detergents like seafoam into the oil and run it for a few miles before I change it to break down the build up of excess grime in the engine and I just put a fuel injector cleaner in it when I topped it off after work to clean the valves and injectors, I'm going to call this /thread just because it seems to have been a sticky lifter with bad overly thin oil.

 

[ryenie]

The lights dimming could be due to a poor\corroded ground connection, otherwise glad to hear it's no longer ticking. As far as the idle, not wanting to speculate because it can be all kinds of things, but the pcm performs a series of self tests, some of them only after certain conditions are met, it could be the pcm running a fuel trim test or 02 sensor test or something to that effect. Until you get a check engine light, i wouldn't spend too much money trying to figure it out past a tune up.

 

[Ohighway]

Had a ticking problem like that with my 2001 Savana van (5.7 v-8) . Regular oil changes did nothing to remedy the situation. However when I switched over to full synthetic Mobil 1 oil, the problem went away. No more ticking at startup.