car has 101000 miles. runs and drives great.plenty of power,sTarts rite up........it ticks...it is annoying.cant hear tic with windows closed...it is not hvl as i changed them all.tic is coming from top center of valve cover.any and all suggestions welcome...i have 3 other 603 on road,all over 200,000 and run quiet.i have to fix this ..thanx

What oil do you use? Lifters get lazy over time. Mobil 1 and some other synthetics can clean them so they quiet down over a couple of three oil changes. Or you can replace the noisy lifters.

Sixto
87 300D

new oem hvl ......same noise..oil is clean

HVL?

Synthetics have cleansing abilities regular/dino oils can't match. It can take 10K miles to get results.

Could also be the belt tensioner Heim end starting to go. Run the engine without the belt for just long enough to determine if the noise goes away. Remember, the water pump isn't moving coolant with the belt off so there's no cooling function and the temp gauge is meaningless.

Sixto
87 300D

jimishadow - The 603 engines are know for lifter ticks. My mechanic feels they are harmless if not annoying. What I would suggest (since I'm cheap) is add a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil. That's what I've been doing. Once the engine heats up it's not an issue. This product is excellent for cleaning and lubricating. Recently I started using it in my 83 - 300 with marvelous results. That engine was blowing oil thru the turbo into the air filter. I changed the oil and air filter and my problem seems to have gone away. Apparently, I had rings that were gummed and stuck a bit retracted allowing oil by. I was actually looking for another engine. Marvel must have released the rings, it stopped smoking and the air filter has been clean. So all you diesel heads take heed.
I just put one less quart of oil and one bottle of this. It's maybe $3.50 but it does work, blew me away.

dave

thanx for good thinking,,as the first thing i did was marvel mystery oil when i first changed the oil.i put 2000 miles with tic and no change.i got the car with a blown tranny.the guy who sold it to me said if you rev it up it will go into gear.he started it and revved it so high to show me .after seeing inside of tranny i know this idiot revved it too much.before he reved it it was ticking.it only has 101k its clean and i only paid 400.ill fix it and have a great car..i have another sdl with 250k and 2 300d with 200 and 260k.i know the lifter noises you mean.this tic does not get loud.it is the same cold or running temp..can it be a broken spring?all lifters are new,same noise.i gotta fix this its embarassing and annoying..my other cars sound nice,,,belt tension shock was bad and changed before i drove it.it was noisy,but not the tic.that mase more of a ingle and was outside of motor.the tic is in the middle internal.

Try the synthetic oil, works for many of us. I don't recall any MMO success stories here, but several people have had success with Mobil synthetic.

Other than that, I guess you're buying a lifter or two, best of luck.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

the lifters are new.the noise is the same with brand new lifters..hvl...hydrolic valve lifter.this is not a lifter tic...im willing to bet cash it is not a lifter tic.