I have a 95 Trooper with the 3.2, 185,000 mi. Have kept up with usual PM and it recently has developed a engine tick. Performance is still good, same oil consumption, same everything, just a engine tick.


Any suggestions? Are oil additives specifically designed to reduce ticking OK? It has a very small valve cover gasket leak that I have been putting off fixing andI have been told that some additives will make oil leaks worse.

 

Ah... I feel your pain. My wife drives a '96 and is going through the same thing.

Here's the deal. The lifters are hydraulic and will get clogged over time. The holes are very tiny where the oil passes through so it's really easy for them to clog up.

What I did and am continuing to do is this:

Next oil change, use fully synthetic oil. If you can get 0w30 or 0w20 that's great, if not, use your regular oil weight.

Drive your Trooper like normal, but change the oil and filter after 500 miles (fully synthetic) and use your regular weight.

The synthetic oil will eventually clean out those hydraulic lifters and quiet them down. But, if you feel like tearing the top of the motor apart to put new ones in there, be my guest!

 

This is right on. It is a bit more expensive but I use pure syn. all the time. Keep up on the oil and filter changes, and most additives are not worth the money, some may help with one thingbut eat your seals in turn.[img]smileys/smiley5.gif[/img]