350 with a sticky lifter/valve
 

I have a 1989 IROC with the L98 350. While the car used to be my daily driver, it has been off the road for about 5 years. I would periodically take it out to start it up and clean it. This year I decided to start driving it as a weekend car and I've noticed a persistent ticking noise both while idling and driving. My guess would be that it's a sticking lifter or valve since I hear it coming from near the passenger side valve cover.

Now I've heard of people using 1/4 or 1/2 a quart of ATF in the crankcase, or Marvel Mystery Oil, or Seafoam to deal with sticking lifters?

What would you guys recommend? Any tips or tricks that may help alleviate the ticking noise without having to tear apart my engine?

Did you change the oil before you started it up?

Also could be an exhaust leak

Yes, I've changed the oil along with the coolant and the transmission fluid since putting the car back on the road. I also had a crack in my y-pipe which I originally thought may have been causing the ticking noise. I've since replaced the y-pipe and the old catalytic converter. So I can confirm that there are no exhaust leaks.

Toss a quart of marvel mystery oil in the crankcase and let it idle for a while. If you drive it, go easy on it. Once it frees up the lifter, change out the oil and filter.

Use a screwdriver to probe for the ticking. Put it on several sections of the valve cover, exhaust, etc to see if you can identify where the noise is coming from precisely.

Yes, that too. Are you sure it's a stuck lifter?

After sitting 5 years anything is possible. Now I know this is compairing apples to oranges but a friend of mine had bought a 240SX a while back that have a really nasty valve tap. The first oil change was with lucas and he drove it. After about 600 miles the tap went away and never came back, and he never put Lucas in it again. It's very possible you just have something a little sticky. 5 years is a long time

Yeah, I know there are a number of possibilities. It's not that the car wasn't run for 5 years, it just wasn't driven more than up and down my block a couple of times a year. Since it's been back on the road this year, I've driven it about 1500 miles including a lot of highway driving.