Take Jims advice the a bad oil tube would cause a ticking all the time, not just on startup. Mine does the "ticking" occasionally after that car has sat a couple of weeks, my mechanic couldn't find anything wrong. If your timing chain hasn't been replaced it is about 40K miles overdue, get that checked ASAP.

Jim,

What's this about a weak lifter? This never came up in previous posts, what part of the lifter goes bad? Can you describe or post a picture? One of these days we need to meet up, I need to buy one of your cool harnesses and would love to talk cars with you.

__________________
Afshin

Current:
02 C32 AMG

Previous:
92 500E
84 190E 2.3 5 Spd