Normal lifter tick or is my engine toast again?
 

At 10 seconds in, I jumper the ten pin. I was checking my timing after adjusting my spark plugs. When I took it down from 12 degrees advanced to 10, this noise got worse.

The car has been making noise like this at start and I assumed it was just lifter tick (it usually goes away) but now hearing it louder under the hood I'm not sure.

The engine has only been running for a minute or two, it's fairly cold, like 120F.

Any feedback would be appreciated, I'm useless at diagnosing noises. Compression test was done only a couple of weeks ago and it came back great (170 on all cylinders except 180 on 3).

A lot of guys seem to get really extreme lifter tick when they restart there cars after a autocross run. Then it disapates after running awhile and tapping the throttle.
Some people get some lesser amounts of ticking by changing there oil viscosity andputting on a new filter
Others that have no catalitic converter have used oil made for a diesel. It makes a lot!! Of noise the first time you start it up but quotes down there after. Some consider it not a good idea to try this route though. The rottela (diesel oil) can dissipate a lot of the noise from lifters. Worked on one of my miatas that had over 250k miles.

Your English gave me aids.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm giving seafoam-in-the-oil a shot based on these videos sounding pretty similar to my problem:

Really hoping it's just super bad lifter noise... I'd even take replacing a collapsed lifter!

what a fucking useless response...seriously..you took the time to come up with that and hit SUBMIT REPLY?
your fucking reply gave ME cancer.

OP, i would suggest ..if you are good at some mechanical work..to rmeove your lkifters and manually clean them. also, you need to change oil religiously or the ticking will come back.

best way to get rid of the ticking is to go with solid lifters but you'll have to shim them and that's another pain..

Well, right now I'm trying to confirm it's just lifters. I was already going to pull the engine this winter to do water pump, timing belt, rear main seal, clutch, and a bunch of other stuff. Checking out and replacing the lifters can easily be part of that.

I just want to make sure I'm not steadily grenading my engine right now because I have an undiagnosed knock or some other problem.

well, i just pulled my engine for the EXACT SAME REASON...ticking sound between 2500 and 4000 rpms...found out it was stuck lifters///i'm glad i rmeove dit tho because it gave me the chance to fix some other stuff tho.

So you think this just sounds like lifters?

get a stethoscope from harbor frieght or something....if noise is louder up top then it is lifter, if it louder down bottom..then it is rod knock
but since you need to replace the rear main seal,may as well do it all together.

Lifters aside, the engine is in good enough shape that I can run my next couple of track days before I pull this winter. If it's rod knock, I would want to locate a replacement engine before I pull this one, also. So what I do depends on whether this is lifter noise.

I'll see if the seafoam and an oil change quiets it down, and go from there. Thanks.

I've had my lifters sound similar to that before. If it's knock it can be more intermittent, not regular with the rpms (yours is). I was worried about the same when it was extreme like that but the noise pattern and style made me pray it was just lifters and it was. I'd skip the seafoam and just do rotella t6. It cleans out a lot with the extra detergents and lubricates better so that tick should die off not immediately after changing but soon.

I hear both noises. The lifter tick is the lighter tapping. The rod noise is the more gutteral knocking noise that's underlying. Lifter tick shouldn't get significantly louder with revs, but the rod noise will. I think it's time to drop the oil and look for metal.

Crap, that's what I was fearing. Assuming there are shavings and it is starting to knock, what could I do about it?

If there's metal in the oil, it's time to rebuild or replace.

Ahhh Crap. Well I'll see what's in the pan. Now I need to decide if I should just run it anyway at my Aug 20 track day, I doubt I'll find a good engine by then.

Thanks for the input.

One last question: I forgot to mention I started to notice hesitation. I thought maybe my spark plugs were going, so I chucked new ones in. No fix.

This AM, I went to drive to work and I got a pending p1170 code - I guess my front O2 sensor is shot. That could explain the hesitation, of course.

Could whatever is busted with the engine have fouled up or broken the front o2 sensor?

this guy....

running rich or cheap gas cna ruin O2 sensors....
and at the mileage you are..they have served their purpose.

And the winner is SAVINGTON!

Got what looks to be a big old chunk of rod bearing, what do you guys think? Faaaaak. Life goes on.

i don't see it as a failure but as an opportunity to build better and stronger.

Except that my life isn't a Spiderman movie, bro. Forum member is selling me a VVT motor to swap in. Thanks everyone.