Bought 97 2.3 to haul stuff from Home Depot. Odometer broke. No idea on miles. After 5 mins running a repetitious 3 clicks shows up. Took off serpentine clicks stayed. Replaced lifters-clicks still there. Rhythm of clicks stays the same when RPMs increased. Used stethoscope, can hear nothing like internally. Ghost in the machine.

 

The thread references that showed up helped me very much. Made me sad to spend money needlessly on the lifter job. The valve cover gasket needed replacing anyways so it wasn't a total waste. First time here--Thanks to the Forum.