Has anyone else noticed a lifter noise?

[Movin]

When my oil got about a quart and a 1/4 low I would get a lifter that would start ticking. I would add oil and the noise was gone. The next year it started ticking at a quart low and would go away when I added oil. Now it has been a few more years and it starts ticking on the full mark. If I over fill one quart it goes away. This is headed toward an engine so full of oil it start shoving it into the air intake and making massive smoke screens on right hand on ramps.

I also noticed that 15w40 to get zink is way worse than 5w30. 0w40 would probably be awesome.

My thought has always been that wear around the oil pump gear is allowing air to enter. When the oil is fuller it does not pull so hard to get the oil up to the pump. The air bubbles cause the lifter clatter. Another thought is the pick up tube could be not tight or cracked. Same thing, pulling in air then compressing it at the pump and delivering air bubbly oil to lifters and bearings.

Has anyone else observed this phenomena and has any one repaired this noisy lifter when new lifters do not fix the noise ?

[lessersivad]

I have 1 lifter that ticks every once in a while. A cylinder not firing, or more correctly, not contributing on the 'power stroke' is another thing that happens at the same time. The oil level is usually 1/2 quart or less low when this happens.

I replaced all the lifters a few years back and I've been running 15w40 Mobil Delvac all year round. Temperature doesn't seem to be a contributing factor, when the lifter does tick it can be 0° or 80°.

I think you may be on to something about either the pickup tube or somewhere else air is getting in.

[tooldude]

Maybe you should hook up an oil pressure gauge to see what's happening at the moment it starts.

[Bert]

My first Festy had an irritatingly noisy lifter until the engine warmed up, for all of the 150,000 km that I drove it. Never got any worse and never went away.
0W20 grade synthetic oil was a desperate experiment for me during a particularly nasty cold spell ((-30F) that lasted about week 6 years ago. Engine turned over and started fine without a block heater at those temperatures but clattered like crazy once outside temperatures warmed up a bit (above 5F). I had to drain some out and add a litre of 10W30 in order to get the clatter to go away.
The 05 Echo I'm currently driving ran quite nicely for 6000 miles from November to mid-March this year on 0W20 Synthetic. Engine technology has obviously improved over the past few decades in this regard. Toyota even seems to suggest using this oil year round for better fuel economy.

[Movin]

When the lifter clatters it sounds like a subaru, really uneven but not a dead miss. I have an oil light and it turns off quick. It does seem to turn off quicker when I add a quart. It never stays on for a full thousand one count . I think the light is supposed to switch on at 6 psi but aftermarket switches offer a range of 2 - 7 psi. I think my hot idle pressure is not what it used to be . If the problem is oil pressure I would expect to hear more lifters, not just one. The noise is definitely related to oil level. Not temperature or run time. Thinner viscosity seems to help.

By now I probably have one very worn lifter, normal 250 K trailer towing, off road playing miles bearings, rings, crispy head gasket, crispy main seals and a source of air bubbles ?

Maybe I should check the oil pressure before tear down. The carby car has a noisy low end sound on start up, the light still goes out quick but I would expect to find an oil pressure problem on it. This lifter just does not seem to be pressure sensitive or RPM sensitive either, when it starts clicking the only thing that works is to add a little oil and it goes away like magic.