I changed my UIM and LIM gaskets a few weeks ago and indeed there was some (minor) antifreeze leakage when we opened the manifold up. It does seem like some might have mixed with the motor oil. The oil was changed about 2 months ago. Anyway, one morning this week when I started the car (~50 degrees), the valves were tapping something fierce. They continued to make noise for about a quarter mile and then got quiet again. They had never done this before. As soon as I got to work, I did another oil change with Valvoline synthetic high mileage 5w/30 oil and a new K&N oil filter. The oil monitor was at 38%. It still taps a little when I start the car and then quickly goes away.

What is going on? Is it bad gas? Should I use 10w/30 oil now that it'* getting cold? How about the oil pickup in the pan? Maybe it wasn't set right when I changed the pan gasket about 2 months ago?

Any ideas?

Thanks for the help!

Anytime I hear the word tap, I want to crawl into a hole and hide. When my intrepid with the 2.7L started to tap, I put in a thicker oil to increase the oil pressure, and it starved the engine of oil and it was over at that point. Still not sure to this day what happened... all I know is it started smelling like gas... and it kocked reallllly loud and had no power... so it ended up in the junkyard and $150.00 dollars worth of a $4,000 car. end rant.

Sorry, didn't mean to scare you, but that problem led up to a series of unfortunate events.. but ultimately led me to my bonneville...

but i am going to let someone else take it from here... i wouldn't put in anything above 10w30 ...just my 2 cents.

Did you change the oil when you changed the gaskets? If coolant gets into the oil, it will start to create problem with the crank or rod bearings. So, if it has been leaking for a while, you may have just been too late. Or not changing the oil after swapping the gaskets will cause the same problem. You may be hearing noise from the bearings, rather than lifter noise. What is the oil pressure reading?