my 90 and brothers 92 300E do a lifter pump up click for the first 10 seconds of a cold start. We both are Amsoil Synthetic guys and the cars have never seen dirty oil. Brother even put new lifters in at 86,000. The starting tic -tic - tic came bake in two days. Others say they don't experience this noise and treat their cars to dishwater motor oil.

So, are we cursed because we use expensive oil and change it too often or is this a normal MB lifter slow pump up issue. We have tried 5-30 and 20-50 and everything inbeteeen.

what kind of oil filter are you using?

MB's so I assume a Mann and I have tried mobil 1 filters's too

both my moms 88 300e and my sis's 90 300e both do it

I guess it's normal

I get the same clicking on my '95 E-320 on cold starts.

I run regular oil and a Bosch filter.

But I'm no mechanic, I could be wrong about the whole thing. The clicking bugs me though.

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Current:
2014 VW Tiguan SEL 4Motion 43,000 miles.

2016 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport (wife's).

Past:
2006 Jetta TDI 135,970 miles. Sold Nov. '13.
1995 E-320 Special Edition. 220,200 miles. Sold Sept. '07.
1987 190-E 16 valve. 153,000 miles. Sold Feb. '06.
1980 300-D 225,000 miles. Donated to the National Kidney Foundation.
1980 240-D manual, 297,500 miles. Totaled by inattentive driver.

I get it too, usually for 2-3 seconds at worst, and normally only if the car has been parked on an incline.

It's kinda embarrassing as it always seems bloody loud (probably much louder in my mind than it actually is), hearing 'clacka clacka clacka' coming from a Mercedes. makes it sound like an old beater for a few seconds.

On another poster's advice I tried a shot of MMO, which seemed to quiet down things for a bit.

I run castrol 15w-40 and mann filters.

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1993 320TE M104
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past:

1983 230E W123 M102
1994 E300D S124 OM606 (x2)
1967 250SE W108 M129
1972 280se 3.5 W108 M116
1980 280SE W116 M110
1980 350SE W116 M116
1992 300E W124 M103
1994 E280 W124 M104
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"music and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business" -Pepys

I can't recall a time when our 190E 2.6 didn't make a little clicking at cold start. It's done it forever now. It's had a new timing chain and tensioner (not stretched, just peace of mind) but never any top end work.

I just figured it was the way it was.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Residual pressure loss may be the cause of the noise, the question is "where is it loosing the pressure?" I believe the only check valve in the oiling system on that engine is the pressure relief valve in the oil pump.

I will dig into it a bit more then get back to you.

MrCJamis

That is an interesting one because that is the first time I heard your angle on the ticking. It has been there since I can remember and you may have the answer. You can here that ticking or clacking go away when the pressure builds up. There are times one or two lifters remain ckicking well past start up, but not all the time. So maybe I don't have complete pressure from the pump from a leaking valve and maybe I have a leak or spill over back to the oil pan that is constantly there. I hope you look into it, maybe I need a new pump. 120,000 miles - Amsoil Synthetic.