Contrary to popular belief and what I've always been told - use thicker oil to quieten noisy hydraulic lifters, I accidentally found quite the opposite!
Here's why they were noisy - I was once on a road trip through the desert, accessory belt snapped so the water pump stopped working and the engine boiled all the coolant out within minutes. Carried on driving for over 30 mins with no coolant and cheap dino 15w40. That scorched nasy dino ended up being in there for 25,000km because I was clueless back then.
After this event I started noticing the lifter rattle.
I changed the oil to 15w50 to quieten it but it didn't do much, just made the car sluggish and use more fuel so I went back to 10w40 with the tick still there.
Around 6 months ago the local store was out of Durablend 10w40 so I grabbed 10w30 instead. Before I put the 30wt in I decided to return it and grab some Durablend 15w50 because I still thought the thicker stuff would be quieter, but they wouldn't let me.
I thought I might as well just put the 10w30 in anyway. I went on a big drive the day after the change and the tick was completely gone!
My guess is the thinner oil worked past the crud built up from that long and burnt OCI and was able to get into the lifters and help clean them out.
Still ticks very slightly sometimes but is constantly improving
Moral of the story is thicker oil won't always help a rattly engine!
Here's why they were noisy - I was once on a road trip through the desert, accessory belt snapped so the water pump stopped working and the engine boiled all the coolant out within minutes. Carried on driving for over 30 mins with no coolant and cheap dino 15w40. That scorched nasy dino ended up being in there for 25,000km because I was clueless back then.
After this event I started noticing the lifter rattle.
I changed the oil to 15w50 to quieten it but it didn't do much, just made the car sluggish and use more fuel so I went back to 10w40 with the tick still there.
Around 6 months ago the local store was out of Durablend 10w40 so I grabbed 10w30 instead. Before I put the 30wt in I decided to return it and grab some Durablend 15w50 because I still thought the thicker stuff would be quieter, but they wouldn't let me.
I thought I might as well just put the 10w30 in anyway. I went on a big drive the day after the change and the tick was completely gone!
My guess is the thinner oil worked past the crud built up from that long and burnt OCI and was able to get into the lifters and help clean them out.
Still ticks very slightly sometimes but is constantly improving
Moral of the story is thicker oil won't always help a rattly engine!