Bo,
Although I only had about 3000 miles on my engine oil, it was over eight (8) months old with about 50% of 'severe' driving on it. Also I put in almost 2 cans of NOLEAK.
My car has never done anything like that before, and since it stopped "ticking" immediately after changing the oil and the filter, it surely points to being at least, partially plugged filter. If it were mechanical, it's logical to assume that it would have persisted.
Note the ticking turned out to be bad OIL TUBES! Check this thread:.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=37931&goto=newpost
Don't think that there's any correlation between the oil drops and Water Wetter but can't prove that either. There's no OIL in WW, so it shouldn't produce oil drops in the antifreeze/water.
Also your leak (if it was a leak) is now fixed. I would recommend that you not leave it in your system too much longer; IE flush and change the oil and filter.