Lifter tick on start. Oil brand/weight possible fault??

[johnbell2]

Thant link is not excellent reading BTW, the guy is not using science, it is a blog, from a student.

You obviously didn't read it.

[Chewy]

It is advised that a GM motor with DOD should not be run with anything other than 0W or 5W oils. I'm not sure why anyone would want a higher viscosity when cold unless you live in the desert where you're always starting your engine when it's 90º+ when cold, but even then, I'd still use 5W. JMO

As I stated above, our engines were spec'd and shipped with 5W30 dino oil, so blaming the oil for your issue is incorrect. IMO, it's a mechanical issue that will only get worse.

[JessMan]

Oh I'm not saying this specific problem is because of the oil. That's why I was asking because I don't know much about these DOD motors. I was just stating my previous experience with Mobil 1 in my LS1 and how it was not happy with it. I'm already pricing out a DOD delete kit with a cam, oil pump, and timing chain. At this point I'm just wondering if there is anything else that would be worth the money to add for a car that's going to be daily driven with some fun every other weekend or so.

[pir4te]

You obviously didn't read it.

Yep TLDR waffle with fervour a bit like many a looney blogger, but did read it verbatim just now.
The gist is tribochemical formation doesn't really exist, he is evangelistic about his method being conclusive, that his discovery be lauded and of course all results are final. God bless him and I wish him the greatest fame, but there's no oil there I've ever used.
Seems his method does not allow for reasonable formation /build-up of borophosphate glass tribofilm, being the key point, prior to application of extreme pressure?
In any case OP's lifters may be on the way out, he lives in Austin same climate as me so I suggested he switch to something that worked well for me to prolong the inevitable by the best part of a year when everyone said the engine was stuffed coz AFM lifter (crock):
Nov 2013

Switched to high zinc and voila.
Mar 2014
http://youtu.be/fhsdGnrHXV8
May 2014
http://youtu.be/1blRAkgAFWg
Then one summer day almost a year later it reappeared:
http://youtu.be/1R-ceS9f_EY

So yeah, it won't fix mechanicals but did buy me time to save for overhaul.

[JessMan]

Thanks pirate! What weight would you suggest? Same weight? 5w-30?

[pir4te]

Well that bought time for me, I put an oil accumulator on since changing lifters and cam. Over winter I used same class different weight 0w50.
http://youtu.be/6Fj336tjdK4
Now is Penrite Enviro+ 5w40 as I mostly use e85, gives excellent response with Oil Control for VVT.

[johnbell2]

The gist is tribochemical formation doesn't really exist, he is evangelistic about his method being conclusive, that his discovery be lauded and of course all results are final. God bless him and I wish him the greatest fame, but there's no oil there I've ever used.

Which is just as well, since the jury is still out on tribochemistry (the nature of the supposed chemical reactions isn't well understood and are subject to so many variables that results are almost impossible to reproduce). His focus on first order effects for wear/friction is as good an approach as you can have, since that's the whole point of lubrication to begin with. I'm not saying he's perfect, I'm saying it's a good read and certainly tosses the "zinc forever" knee jerk answer on its ear. That said, you appear to have had good luck with your approach and anything that buys you some time before things go completely tango upsilon can't hurt.

In general, I see threads like this that devolve into "oil religion" and always wonder... how about letting highly regulated entities who spend billions of dollars on R&D (like GM) just tell us what needs to be run in their engines? Last I checked that was a licensed Dexos1 5w30, and Mobil1 5w30 is on that list. Consider... why go off the reservation with oil weights & viscosity when dealing with an oil activated system?

Back to OP, as you've already stated the odds are that he doesn't have the goodness that is the Delphi lifter and instead has the old-busted Eaton junk. He can rip AFM out while he's in there or he can drop in the Delphi kit and install a known good AFM performance cam while he's at it. Speaking personally, I took AFM out and don't miss it. I've logged my mileage for the 50k miles that I've had DOD delete in place and frankly am within +/- 2 mpg of the DOD+stock cam numbers all else equal. That's basically statistical noise given all the different things that can impact mileage. With those results I'll take the extra power and reduced valvetrain complexity and call it a day. But as they say, to each his own and "your mileage may vary".

[GT Drew]

I did oil changes for our 3 vehicle, 2 are DOD engines,(G8 and Camaro).The Castrol Edge was on sale, 5L jug and a 1 l bottle plastic wrapped to it so 4 does them with 1 L for top ups.
By mistake I got 2 that were 10W30. I used them on my G8 and it has never run better. Before I always used Edge 5w30. I think the clearances in the lifters is too great for 5W30.
With the 10W30 I get almost no tick and the lifters seem to stay pumped up and midrange power is better. I'm at 96K (155 km) and internally it's stock.

[Chewy]

I did oil changes for our 3 vehicle, 2 are DOD engines,(G8 and Camaro).The Castrol Edge was on sale, 5L jug and a 1 l bottle plastic wrapped to it so 4 does them with 1 L for top ups.
By mistake I got 2 that were 10W30. I used them on my G8 and it has never run better. Before I always used Edge 5w30. I think the clearances in the lifters is too great for 5W30.
With the 10W30 I get almost no tick and the lifters seem to stay pumped up and midrange power is better. I'm at 96K (155 km) and internally it's stock.

10W30 is only thicker at startup or in the cold, so your warm or hot weight is still the same as 5W30. I'll always go with the lower viscosity for the cold number.