I am so confused...When I start my car and its cold out it makes a ticking noise until its heated up, Ive asked around and alot of people say its a Lifter! Idk where to go from here....I have people saying its fine you live in Iowa if it only does it when its cold theres nothing you can do about it. Then I have others saying it needs to be fixed ASAP which is like a grand apparently....What should I do?!?!

 

When was your last oil change? How old is the oil? Are you running 5w or 10w?

As a band-aid you can run lucas oil additive, should quiet down the car.

 

That sounds like a lifter to me.

 

Mine does that too when it's cold and I asked my brother(ex mechanic) about it and he said its probably a lifter and its not a big problem.

 

Mine does this as well, only for a minute or two after initial cold start up, and I've kind of wondered about it as well. My Dad is good with cars (rebuilt the 454 in his 72) and said if it goes away after a few minutes it's nothing to really worry about.

I'm running 5w-30 (required oil for the LS4).

 

Remember the DOD of the LS4 kind of burns oil, so you could just be a touch low and making the chatter, and then the oil will flow through and quiet it down.

 

That's a good point Mike.

 

My 5.3 SS does this as well. It is a known quirk with these cars. You do not have to run out and change your lifters. Just let your car warm up and get that oil flowing through there and if you want run some Lucas oil treatment on your next oil change in place of a quart of oil. You don't want to over fill.

 

^^^This. Well documented cold noise. Nothing to be concerned with. Mine has done it since the day I bought it. Since then, I have added the cartuning turbo. If it would have been a problem, the power adder would have escalated it quickly.