I am making a new thread on this even though I have another, but I figured this would be better so people didn't get sidetracked by the other info posted before

Ok about a month ago this noise started but I was never able to pinpoint it. After doing a full tune up which included replacement of most of my pulleys it'* the only noise left so now I found it.

The ticking is coming from the front valve cover. This starts after the car get to operating temp but then gets loudest after a 15+ mile highway drive. It also only happens in park when revving if it does it underlies it must be a lot quiter as I can't hear it then.

Now tonight I notice that if I rev the car to 2k rpm the noise starts but if I hold it there is stops after a second or so. It does the same when I increase the speed to 3k, and so on.

Now I'm not much of a mechanic so this is where you come in. What are your thoughts. It seems dependent on oil pressure which makes since why I don't hear it under load or when I hold the rpm steady. Could it be the oil pump? A bad lifter? Worse?

Here is a video it'* not very noticeable without good speakers.this is it at its loudest.

I could barely pick it out. And without being there, it would be really hard to figure it out really. Just for giggles and to remove the possibility, remove the serpentine belts and duplicate the same test to see if the noise is still there. Yes, you can run the engine without the belts, but only for a quick test. MAX 1 minute run time.

Already did and replaced 4 bad pullys

Weird, I missed that part about dependent of oil pressure. It could be a lifter not getting enough pressure to stay pressurized. Have you tried running some Seafoam in it?

No never did and I just changed the oil on Monday with amsoil so not really wanting to waste $55 in oil quite yet but I will try that before the next change

that stuff seems like a waste when you can buy 3 5qt jugs of valvoline or whatever from walmart for that. on an older engine you are more worried about keeping the engine cleaned out so more frequent changes are better for it, replacing the cleaning additives each time. my yukon had a lifter knock when cold when i got it and a couple seafoam a week before i changed the oil with normal vavloline and its almost completely gone. you can maybe hear it for 5 to 10 seconds now

My engine only has 67k on it and I bought the OE synthetic so I will still be changing it at 5k like always it was only about $15 more than synpower so I figured hey why not

Few things to check out... A lifter tick could be confused with a slight exhaust manifold leak. I had a couple lifter nightmares with my Bonneville. Every cold day I'd have ticking, but 2 times the lifter would not come back. I was able to fix it with this stuff from NAPA. Its an engine flush and thats what you'll ask for. It smells like soap, you dump it in the crankcase, and run it for5 mins, then drain the oil and replace with new. Use a Semi-Synthetic! I have had no problems since I've stopped using Pennzoil to the wolfs-head semi syn we have at my work.