Lifter tick under load?

[Rich_91]

Is it possible for lifters to click / tick, but only under load?

Im asking, since i have a clicking / ticking that is fairly noisy when I am driving along, most noticible when accelerating, but it seems to be there all the time.

When I am parked, and have my head under the hood, I cannot duplicate the sound, no matter how i rev the motor. Otherwise the car is running fine.

It wasnt there on the way to work on tuesday, and on the way home I heard it.

No oil consumption before or after (just a tiny headgasket leak that has been around for 1.5yrs. Im not even adding oil between changes.

I am significantly overdue for an oil change, but I cannot see how this would do anything.

Ive tried the "mexican tune-up", with no success  

Is there some way maybe to unstick a lifter (if thats even it?)

Car is a 91 Jetta 1.6td

Thanks for the advice..

[burnt_servo]

check your oil pressure  at the head .
 there should be a sending unit on clutch side of the head that you can pull out and screw in a mechanical guage .

what can happen is as your rpms rise , the pressure can drop to the point that the lifters start to clatter .

i had this happen to me a couple years ago , ended up dropping the pan  replacing the the rod and main bearings and installing a 36mm oil pump .

[bigblockchev]

Change the oil and filter!! It is the cheapest thing to try. On old detroit iron this was a standard first remedy. The old oil is broken down and very thin so it is harder to maintain oil pressure. If this makes a difference you may have worn clearances elsewhere in the engine as others have suggested. Cheers Dan

[smutts]

Can also be a blown gasket where the exhaust manifold (header?) bolts to the head. Dangle your fingers and feel for the jets of gas. Hot!