I have a new ticking noise coming from somewhere in the drivers side, like maybe from the valve cover area. It does speed up with RPM.

Let me fill in the history. 4 months ago I did the following:
Had heads rebuilt.
Replaced all gaskets.
Put a allmakes camshaft.
New tappets.
New rods.
New Chain and sprockets.
New Spark Plugs.
During all this I meant to check the oil pump internally, but was having a hard time with the screws and left it alone. The truck came alive strong, and I did the usual break in as per Rave and all was good. But one morning I heard the oil pump fail and I shut off the truck. After taking the front cover off I saw it had damage and it also mangled my woodruff key. That key become a lil project to remove. I also had lots of pieces of metal I had to clean up as the sprocket in the oil pump shredded itself. Finally I put a new front over. I primed the pump through the bolt above the oil pressure sensor. I just pumped oil in through there. I started the truck up and I got this ticking that was not there after the rebuild. I hooked up a oil pressure gauge and it's precise at 50 PSI. My next step is to take a look under the valve cover, but wanted to get a little feed back here in case I missed something.

I'm using Rotella 15-40w with lucas zinc additive.

 

With all that you've done, it would be a real bummer to slip a liner.

What temperatures does it run at?

I've heard the power steering pump can give an eerie tick, that's on that side. Very quick test to check it isn't anything connected to the belt, is to get the truck into a ticking state, disconnect the belt, and start it again for a few seconds. With luck the ticking goes away, and you can start eliminating from there.

Good luck.

 

Does it tick on a cold start? Or does it tick only once it gets up to operating temp?

That's what will determine whether or not you've got a slipped liner.

 

I have had less than good luck on the last three rebuilds using aftermarket lifters and camshafts. Keep in mind this may be entirely random, and unrelated to the manufacturer, but soon after break in I heard a click from the LH side and expected to find a bent push rod or failed rocker. Instead, the keeper clip on one lifter failed, and allowed the cup below to twist sideways and let the push rod fall into the plunger. I replaced the lifter and push rod, and all is fine after 5000 miles. I purchased the lifters and cam from a vendor in Texas. The lifters were made in China.

 

The ticking is on cold start, I haven't really run full temp yet, because after I first heard it I shut it off and the next day went and got a oil pressure gauge just in case the new pump wasn't sending enough oil up. I've read a few threads were people had new pumps with low pressure, so I was being precautions. When I had the sump off, it didn't look like I had a slipped sleeve. That really would suck if I had a slipped liner now. When I turned it on with the oil gauge on the next day, it seem like the noise was less. Tomorrow I'm gonna check it out more and try taking off the serpentine so I can start that process of elimination. I thought about going into the cam cover to look to make sure the old pump bits didn't travel up there. But I figure the pump seized and probably didn't get to send anything anywhere. On a better note, apart from that tick, the engine seems strong and normal.

 

Erick846, please explain what it means if the ticking is heard when cold vs. only once warm.

Thanks in advance.