Constant ticking

[cornbread]

I recently noticed a slight ticking noise on my 04 disco. I had a mechanic listen to it with a stethiscope and could only hear it on the back top of the motor. He's pretty confidant that it is in the valve train so lifters and cam. I'm pretty mechanical, but this sounds like a really serious job. Has anyone replaced lifters and cam, and if so how would I find out how to do it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. One more thing should I take it to the dealer just so they can verify what the other mechanic suspects, or is it not worth the money? Bumming in Iowa, Peace chris

[Alak]

So its a clicking noise in the back middle top of the engine?

Have you checked your coil packs? A wire could be loose.

[roverthen]

A friend of mine had a very similar problem with his '03 DII. He later found out that it was the low octane gas that was doing this. This might not be your problem but these engines tend to knock with the cheap gas.

[Disco Mike]

More common is to have noise coming from the rockers. How many miles on your engine, how often do you change your oil and what weight are you using.
Mike

[cornbread]

I have 86,000 on the clock, I just did a atf flush yesterday and use mobil 1 10w40. You can also here the ticking behind the front tires on both sides about equally as loud. My mechanic found that to be strange, but still was confidant that it's a valve trane noise. He also said that the rocker arms would be more of a clunuk or thunk than a ticking.Chris

[Britabroad]

Cornbread - could be completely different, but I get a loud ticking from my drivers side cat. fine when cold or hot, but ticks like crazy at idle the rest of the time. Just passed emissions so I'm reluctant to replace it just yet - but I guess it's on it's way out.

[Alak]

I find it unlikely it would be a valvetrain noise of you can hear it equally on both sides behind the tires. I wouldn't rule that out, but I would start investigating other things. Could be something like the idler pulley.

[eladisco]

Did you ever find the problem? I took it to the dealership & they said it was the purge valve making that noise. Not to be worried because it was normal.

[nashvegas]

leaks at manifold / downpipe will tick and sound just like engine internal noises -- i'd say if you can hear it under the car, it may be this...