ticking noise

I don't think your oil pickup is sucking air. You must think your ticking noise is valve train related. Does it sound like only one lifter or are all the lifters making noise? Slight valve train noise on some engines is not uncommon. I may be a good idea to have a qualified technician listen to your noise and give an opinion.

When the oil was drained one of your lifters lost its ''prime''. This is not unusual if the engine has a lot of miles or was poorly maintained in the past. Drive the vehicle and see if in a few miles if the lifter''pumps-up'' again.If not you may have to replace it.

This noise does not sound like a lifter. It only makes this noise when the engine is warm and has been driven for some time. Such as when i come home from work after a 30 mile drive, i pull into my garage and put the truck in park then i hear tick ,tick ,tick , tick. If i put the gas on slowly, the tick does not get faster or slower. If it was a lifter rapping the sound would get faster and it does not. Could this be the timing chain? The truck has always used synthetic 10w-30 since new. The truck has 126,00 miles on it. I tried using a heavier weight oil 10w-40 and no difference.

prob needs new lifter.