Ticking at Start up

[bwheitman]

Hello Friends,
I have a 96 SL320, The car has 124,000 miles on it. After I replaced all my leaky seals in the 104, I finally switched to synthetic oil. The gas mileage has increased, but now when I start my engine in the morning I get a ticking noise, sounds like a lifter. It goes away after the engine warms up. Oil pressure is better than ever, but this ticking noise in the AM is a concern. Should I be worried? My old 280CE ticked like a diesel all the time and ran fine, but this one never has. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Maybe flush the engine?
Best Regards,
Brian

[gerhuet]

You've got a failing hydraulic tappet by the sound of it. Cheap and easy to replace the lot

bye

Gerry Wexford Ireland

[phelan]

I have previously noted with two of my cars (Subaru and Mercedes) increased noise from the tappets with synthetic oil. Goes away with Dino!. No idea re explanation.

[deanyel]

The great mystery of MB ticking noises, and of synthetic oil, is that sometimes ticking noises go away with synthetic oil, and sometimes they start with synthetic oil. Go figure. I hope somebody is working on the answer to this. I the meantime I'm sticking with dino oil.