Hi,
Most of the vehicles I have owned have had hydraulic lifters, and most of them have made noise at one time or another, and my voodoo has always worked.
Step 1:
Get a pint or quart of ATF (Automatic transmission fluid), drain that much oil out of the crankcase and add the ATF, and drive around for at least 10 miles, the faster the better. The detergent in the ATF really loosens things up well. It works for stuck oil rings sometimes, too.
Step 1a:
Get the best quality oil filter you can find. This can make all the differance. Good oil filters flow better and you will have a few pounds better oil pressure to the lifters. That is good.
Step 2:
Change the oil and use the good stuff. Some brands will make less noise than others. I like to use Valvoline Syntec in my Miata. It is a 4 valve per cylinder DOHC engine with hydraulic lifters and is famous for being noisy when it is cold or dirty because the engine has a 7k redline and the lifters have to stay pumped up. That means the oil passages are small. I use a Purolator filter that is for a Mazda 626. It is bigger but fits the same base.
Use the oil weight recommended for your engine, since that is what the lifters were designed for. Heavy oil will make the lifters noisy.
Step 3:
Change the oil when it gets dirty. This could be anywhere from 100 miles to 5000 miles depending on what kind of driving you do. Take a paper towel and put a dab of oil on it with the dipstick. Let it soak in for a while. Put a dab of new oil on another paper towel. After a few minutes, look at the pattern. There will be some concentric rings of differant shades. Compare the used oil with the new oil. You will see a fair amount of crud on the used oil side. If the differance is big between the used oil and new oil, change it. It's hard to describe exactly what you are looking for, but you will see black sludge on the towel in the used oil, and when there is a lot of it that is bad.
Step 4:
I run the ATF through about every 15k miles. 131k miles on my Miata, and nary a problem. I got 212k out of a Ford Ranger I had and 141k out of another Ranger that I sold with no problems.
Regards,
Josiah
Hillsboro, OR
1955 Willys CJ5 Buick 225 V6 160HP 270ft-lbs, T90 trans, Warn OD, PTO winch, Spicer 18 T Case, RS9000's, Dana 25F/ 44R,
5.38:1 gears, 11" brakes, Bestop Supertop, Hurculiner