I agree my 07 with a K24 had 386000 on it and never had a valve adjustment and was not making noise. But I say it is work at least a check under the valve cover...As far as the VTC mine was never changed. I did have to change the pressure sensor on it once...If the VTC is bad it is not hard to change on that engine.. I have seen some that the issue was over time the lack of oil changes as it would build up crud on the screen inside the VTC,, That 2.4 was a great engine...I wish my 21 HRV had that engine.. I have the 1.8 which is a good engine but the 2.4 and much better pickup and still got around 35 mpg on the highwayIt really depends. Is this noise a constant clicking or ticking… then I’d say valves. I’ve seen K24s have no valve adjustment and go be at 200k finally getting one just cause the 4th owner of the car saw it in the owners manual — while making little if any noise.
If it does this grind at startup only then goes away, like the aforementioned video. It is definitely the VTC actuator. K24Z2 and K24Z3 this is super common on.