I read your post on BITOG and you said, " . . scaring all the kids in the neighborhood and people can hear it a block away"! If that's accurate, it's time to get those valve covers off . . . asap!

The ticking can be three (3) things: a plugged oil tube, a failed oil tube or a failed/plugged lifter.

If the oil tube is just paritally plugged or the tube is blown, then running the car in "3" gear as I mentioned helps to temporarily "pump" up the lifter so it works normally for a while. If the lifter is actually 'bad', then it will still temporarily respond to the high revs, but will make a lot of noise.

For both of the above, the 'trick' is the higher oil pressure when the car is run at freeway speeds. This tends to fix the the problem at least temporarily; running it in "stop-and-go" traffic, will bring the 'tick' back b/c of lower oil pressure.

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Regards . . . . JimF
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'94 S500 Cpe

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