Please help
Is there anything I can add or do to stop or reduce lifter rattle without a major overhaul?

 

a little heavier oil sometimes hushes it up, a little. or a walkman

 

Is it the lifter, or something else under the valve cover?

Listening with a stick between your ear and valve covers may isolate the noise.

The rocker arms can become deep fried, you could also have a piece missing from the rocker arm and noise won't shut up. Going under the cover requires new VC gaskets, old ones will be brittle. If you get into replacing actual lifters and cam (as a set) that is more involved.

This rocker arm has half of it dipped in a cleaner called Berrymans.

You could also try the BG oil treatment, it has a solvent cleaner added to oil, then drained; and a supplement added to the new oil. Now I tried the BG and it made a difference in noise on SWMBO van. But my Rover in photos needed more help than BG, ATF, Marvel Mystery Oil, SeaFoam, and a few snake oils I don't remember could muster. Imagine pouring oil in an aluminum pan. Cook on the stove hours each day. Don't change the oil. Just top off when needed like a lot of previous owners.

 

First, how many miles on it, when do you hear the tick, hot, cold or when hot?
Read the sticky at the top of the section regarding head gaskets and valve train noise.
Low oil pressure as in a bad oil pump, valve train, slipped sleeve, lifters or the cam with warn lobes will cause this noise.
To answer your question, if it is a lifter issue, you would need to replace the cam, all lifters a timing chain and oil pump.
How mechanical are you?

 

It has 96000 on it. It makes the tic noise when in idle, like at stop signs, etc... No sound at all when driving, after it heats up. Is it ok to drive with lifter noise? and I am not mechanical enough to tear into it. Thanks for the info.
Rick

 

while in park, if you rev/raise rpms, does the tic go away?
that could imply slipped sleeve.

 

Or a failing oil pump.

 

Oil PSI mechanical gauge readings would be good to take, at idle, and 2500 rpm, both cold and hot.

Valve related noise frequently starts when cold and goes away when warmed up.

The sleeve tick noise is usually not heard at cold idle, but as engine warms up. It frequently goes away at higher rpm as slipping sleeve can't keep up with piston as it reverses. It is still slipping, just not enough travel to tick.

Mechanics love Rovers. Find an indy who has worked on them, no sense funding on the job training....

 

Talked to a fellow Rover owner today in the parking lot of a grocery store about our vehicles' quirks, and we discussed the tick. He said he used something called "Kreen" in his oil and it quieted it down immensely. Supposedly removes carbon build up, so I guess it's like Seafoam. Anyone try anything like this and have it quiet things down? Not a fan of adding anything to my oil.

 

If you want to get rid of your noise, read the thread I suggested and if mechanical, start actually checking the engine out first the pump then the valve train, don't believe everybody you bump into in the parking lot, won't get you anywhere.