So my co worker dumped a bunch of money into this truck before giving up and giving it to me. He had new heads put on, along with all new sensors, new water pump, new a/c, plugs, wires, coils, computer, etc. All the work was done at a shop 6 months ago.

After they put the new heads on, it was ticking pretty loudly in the front 1/2 of the engine. He brought it back to the shop where they told him just to drive it and it will go away. Clearly something happened as it never went away.

It seems to act differently than a normal lifter tick as the noise doesn’t change volume if it’s cold or hot. Tried the usual Seafoam and Marvel Mystery Oil, but it just keeps ticking.

Any thoughts on it?

 

I would pull the valve covers and check the valve train and push rods, rotate engine manually and you will find the loose push rod(s) by spinning each with fingers when its valves are closed, should be tight with pre-load, hard to spin but spinable
Loose will spin easily and could be a collapsed lifter but those tend to stop "ticking" once oil pressure gets inside them

Could be bent push rod or loose rocker assembly
Lifters can't be changed without pulling the heads so hopefully its one of the above

Constant "ticking" would effect engine power as valves are not opening on time or all the way

 

So I went back to the shop that did the work on the truck to clarify a few things. They did put new lifters and pushrods when they did the heads. They also confirmed the truck was ticking prior to entering the shop. So the ticking persisted through the new parts. So that would mean my cam lobe on the front drivers side has flattened.
Now that we identified the problem, I can feel better about selling it.