When I bought the 1999 C280 (140 000 km) it had a constant lifter noise, or that is what the merc tech diagnose it as. Whether the car was hot or cold, there were one or more lifters making quite a loud noise.

So, I took the car to a Merc dealer to change the all 18 lifters. The noise was gone for about a week, then it started again. But now it were intermittent. Hot or cold, about 50% of the time when I start the car I will hear the ticking noise. It does not go away after a few seconds (like "normal" lifter on cold morning). It will be noisy for a while - like 30 minites or so, and then will go away.

Sometimes I will start and it will be there, other times it is not there. As I said, it happens hot or cold. I dont have any other problems like low power etc,

Can anyone help?? Is this lifter noise? Why did it not go away completely when replacing the lifters with brand new ones? How can I get rid of the noise, its very irritating and everyone will always ask about the noise...

Thanks