86 560sel valves tick on startup
 

86 560SEL, 73K

If car has not been started for a day or overnight, it sounds like a valve isn't getting enough oil for a short second upon initial startup.

I have the whole top end redone last winter with new chain, guides, heads pulled, etc.

What do you think?

what's the outside temperature and weight of oil you're using?

i have 5w-40 synthetic in my coupe (which is in storage now) and it did this for about a second on initial start up on the coldest of days. the tick will go away once oil pressure builds. never ticked in its life when it was warm outside.

i'd consider it normal?

i use 10-40 valvoline maxlife synthetic blend.

car lives in garage, but lately temperatures have been in the 40s

I'd bet it's not a valve but the timing chain. See if the sound is coming from the front of the engine on startup.

Are there new plastic chain guides? A new chain tensioner?

on my 103 i get this noise on startup for a few seconds, occasionally in wintertime or when the oil and filter are replaced.Its a light ticking noise like loose tappets.
I assume that the noise from a timing chain may be of a clattery nature .
mak
300se

Switch to a true synthetic which is ACEA approved and it'll probably go away.

Chain, tensioner and all guides were replaced about 10K miles ago. had the whole engine front off, so all the guides were replaced. then had the heads off too. Was a huge deal and VERY expensive!! I fooishly spent almost as much on the repair as I did on the car, but I figured if I spent the money, I could drive the car for the next 10 years. At least that's the story I told the wife.:D

the sound lasts for barely a second.

tried to record it on my cellphone. not very good sound, but the tick is at 4 secs into the video http://www.flickr.com/photos/randys32/sets/72157622890750673/

After replacing the chain, guides and tensioner, the engine still had a ticking sound from the right hand valve cover. It was a very dirty smog pump. After rebuilding the pump all was quiet. The smog pump will run for 1 minute until the controller turns it off. One of the members here told me this could be the problem. The noisy pump was telegraphing the ticking noise allowing me to believe it from the valve train. This might be something to check. Good Luck.

it only last for a second and only after the car has been sitting and cold. like overnight or all day

You probably have one or more worn Hydraulic Lift Compensators (Lifters). I had to replace a couple noisy ones on my 560SEL. Not difficult at all. Can be done in an hour or so if you have a valve spring compressor tool. It's usually best to replace them all at the same time.

If it only happens for a second or so on a cold start I wouldn't fret. If it continues for longer periods of time, or even when hot it could be the hydraulic compensators or it could be a cam lobe (or two) wearing. On my 560SEL I wore through the cam lobes around 190K and had to replace both cams. That started to show with a slight ticking when warm and was really loud on cold start.