I live in michigan and when its cold and i start my 02 monte ls the lifters tick... when the oil warms up it quiets down. Anything to fix this problem or causes?

 

There's a lot more clicking, ticking, groaning, and squealing from my car when the temperature drops. All goes back to normal when it's warmed up. I just write it off as normal cold weather symptoms. As long as you're using the appropriate oil for your car and for the winter temps, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

x2 those 3400 engines can have a good amount of tick in the cold.

What oil are you using?s

 

Change over from dino(regular) oil to synthetic oil. Try Mobil 1 or Amsoil. Synthetic does not have any parafins or wax to thicken up when it gets cold. Synthetic oil does not breakdown easily when exposed to combustion byproducts. They are man made to exceed OEM specs. Plus you will extend the life of your engine. It will run smoother and probably pick up a few tenths mpg.

 

I too have a 02 monte that does the same thing. I'm transplanted from Michigan to Huntington Beach,Ca. I have lived in socal for four years and my lifters are still noisey on start up. I change the oil every 3000 miles without fail. I think I'll try the synthenic next oil change.

 

I've known my Grand Am and my wife's Grand Am (both '94s with the 3100) to have some valve ticking in the cold. These extreme colds promote it for a number of reasons. Let it warm up a little and you should be all good.

On a related note, about 2+ years ago, my wife's Grand Am had a NASTY valve/lifter tick (not during the winter) when the car was cold. I changed the oil, threw in a cheap-o bottle of oil adative for noisey lifters and valves. Less then a week, noise went away. 3K miles later, changed oil, noise came back, ran a cheap-o adaptive, noise went away. Had to do this for about 3-4 oil changes. After that, the noise quit coming back! With and without the noise, the car's performance appeared unaffected. The car is still driving fine now (and no adative). BTW - that car has 177K on it and my Grand Am has 202K on it. I've used nothing but conventional oil in both of them and changed every 3-5K.