Lifter tick.

If its def coming from the intake side of the head, its gotta be a lifter tick. A small exhaust leak will sound very similar. Only solution is to upgrade to 3g lifters that actually let oil in.

+1 on these guys, lifter tick. It sounds terrible I know , but it is normal for the 1st and 2nd gen lifters.

If you simply clean the lifters, the tick will go away.

just need to take the lifters out and bleed them or just replace them.

So replace them w/ 3g 4g64 lifters?

Yes replacing with 3g lifters is an option or you can just clean your lifters like RadDsm said. Take them out and clean them with kerosine or diesel gas until all of the gunk is gone. Check to make sure the lifters are not damaged. An easier option you can try first is running seafoam through your engine and running heavier oil. Running heavier oil is more of a band-aid though. If you are running 5-30 try running 10-30 instead. If you run the seamfoam through it can clean the lifters and quite them down. No harm in trying it.

Vertigo RT said:

So replace them w/ 3g 4g64 lifters?

Click to expand...

I would save yourself the money and clean them up. Like suggested above, I'd soak them in some diesel and then scrub away. I had this same issue on my old beater neon. Lifter tick is very annoying and I know you want that gone haha. Hope you get it taken care of!

Ill try some seafoam first. Which method is the best for getting it to them?

Vertigo RT said:

Ill try some seafoam first. Which method is the best for getting it to them?

Click to expand...

take off valve cover, and youll ve able to figure it out from there, pretty simple

by the time you spend the time to take them out and clean them and try new oil and sea foam... you can get a new set of 3mm oilers from ebay for like 80 dollars...