Ticking

[Greg]

I've heard that this is normal for Miatas, but I just wanted to get your take on it. Under cold starts, it sounds like theres a bent valve, but quickly goes away.
I don't know if it just takes few seconds to get the oil up or what...

[Doppelgänger]

hydraulic lifters.... it's going to happen and is completely normal. I used to run Rotella 15/50 and it stopped all the lifter tick.

[jesseealexander]

like mike said, its just lifter noise. nothing bad at all.

changing your oil will make it temporarily go away.

[metalman]

Yep, and engine flush can help that too....followed by the right oil and filter.

[RotorNutFD3S]

Yeah, it's a scary noise. Only when it never goes away do you need to worry. :)

[Greg]

Lol ok, I figured it was the lifters, just wanted to make sure

[Roadster]

I've tried a bunch of different oils in my previous Miata and the current one, and they both seemed/seem to like Castrol GTX 10w-30 the best. No clatter whatsoever, even on cold start, for about 3000 miles at a time. It lets you know when it wants its oil changed. :)

I'll be going solid buckets/shims at some point though...

[adjake]

Yeah, it's a scary noise. Only when it never goes away do you need to worry. :)

So if it does not go away then what? I have tried some additives, i'm going to try changing oil every 1000 for the next 2 or 3. I need to pop the cover off and replace the gasket anyway (small leaking that is getting annoying) is there anything that I should take a look at while I'm in there? This is on a 99 if that makes a dif.
I believe I have a blowby issue as well ie. add 1 qt. of oil every 1500 or so black tailpipe good gas mileage.

[amaff]

I've tried everything. Only 1 thing worked:

http://www.miata.net/garage/hla/cleaning.html

Then again, mine was BAD. And I did it while the engine was already in pieces so it wasn't a big deal. Try to keep all the parts for each individual lifter together as they tend to 'wear in' to each other over time. Switching them around can cause issues. If you want the tub of "don't touch this; don't breath this; don't even look at this stuff or it will murder your family" carb cleaner, let me know and you can have it. I have no use for the stuff anymore.

[RotorNutFD3S]

So if it does not go away then what? I have tried some additives, i'm going to try changing oil every 1000 for the next 2 or 3. I need to pop the cover off and replace the gasket anyway (small leaking that is getting annoying) is there anything that I should take a look at while I'm in there? This is on a 99 if that makes a dif.
I believe I have a blowby issue as well ie. add 1 qt. of oil every 1500 or so black tailpipe good gas mileage.

Well, you need to look elsewhere because you do not have hydraulic lifters. 99+ utilizes solid lifters, so there is something else going on there. However, you could try using Rotella as Doppleganger suggested to see if it's a lubrication issue anyway.

[metalman]

So if it does not go away then what? .

As you have solid lifters you could check valve lash to see if its within spec...or try different oils are Eric suggests.