I have a 1998 E320 that I noticed has what I would call noisy lifters. I don't hear it when the Hood is down but it's obvious when the hood is up.

Any one else notice this??

Intruder

My '91 560 SEL does this. I've been told the ticking is actually the rocker arms/cam. It also could be the fact that the previous owner did not change the oil on a regular basis and the lifters are "dirty". Might be a different case with the 6-cyl...

Noise could also be a bad exhaust manifold, something to check.

Also, one cause of lifter noise is bad o-rings on the center bolt on the oil filter cap. They don't come along with the new filter --oil leaks down from the lifter gallery overnight and takes sometime to pump the lifter back up.

noisey lifters usually mean one thing that the lifter or lifters has collapsed which means that it is not working at all or not working properly.