Lifters or Piston Slap noise ??
 

I have a 2004 C4 that had a partial rebuild 5 years/20k miles ago. It had cylinders 4, 5 & 6 relined due to bore scoring.
It uses about 1/2 litre of oil every 1000 miles and it looks like there is slightly more soot on the left exhaust than the right.

The videos below were taken after a cold start on the drive so no driving before the video

Here is a video of the passenger side ie: cylinders 1,2,3

Here is a video of the drivers side ie: cylinders 4,5,6,

Am I being a little paranoid that scoring has returned or is this a lifter or something less drastic sound than early bore scoring - again?

Thanks in advance

PS..sorry about the rusty manifold bolts...its on the list!

What type/grade oil are you running? Last oil change? The 4/5/6 manifold is completely rusted, so what you are hearing may be exhaust leaks. You are going to have to solve that problem first, not just the bolts.

The noise does not sound like lifters or bore scoring to me. Does the noise vary with rpm if you raise the rev to say 2k?

I agree with DBJoe, you need to replace your exhaust manifolds first...they may be the source of your noise...I have never seen them so rusted on any cars here in the northwest. Where are you located that it is so rusted.

The integrity of the exhaust manifolds looks fine to me. Just some surface rust. If you had an exhaust leak, the sound would be distinctly different on one side versus the other. I had one on a past vehicle due to a failed weld. Very different sound.

I can't comment on the ticking noise. It doesn't sound quite like the other bore scoring videos I have listened to. It sounds like valve train noise, but I don't know what it would be. Lifters rarely go bad. Some of the experts on the site will hopefully weigh-in.

I beg to differ. This does not look okay
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...462f1436d9.jpg

^^That's a bit more than "surface rust"...Good luck, I hope you find the source.

I had sticking lifters that sounded exactly the same, however mine only 'Stuck' once the car was hot and had been revved hard, then I always got a CEL and misfires along with the ticking. Have you run a diagnostic on the car?, any misfires or pending. The lifter issues relate to the intake, if they stick your car over fills the cylinder below 3k and from what I have read always triggers a CEL. Mine used to free off once the car cooled and then ran fine again.

Here is the thread on mine and the repair.

Does the noise subside after about 30-40 seconds of engine running? And only when cold. My Boxster sounds the same from a cold start but only for a 30 seconds or so. I always attributed it the lifters.

My car has 84,500 miles. It started making a piston slap/lifter noise around 60k. I have owned it since 47k. I drive it in New England all year so maybe I scored the cylinders. On the positive side, it runs great, no codes on durametric, uses only a quart of oil per 1400 miles. My UOAs have been pretty typical for a normal wearing engine.

I am just driving it for now and will look into rebuild when I feel that it is overly damaging the engine to drive it.