2002 Pathfinder Runs smooth, stalls, hard start. pinging, runs smooth agian.

[darksurfr]

lifter-less engine. Right. So not really sure what is going on now. Seems to be continuous noise now. it doesnt get better and then get s***. Just always s***. I am not sure what else to do.

[Rockwood]

If it sounds like the lifters are collapsed maybe it is an oil pressure issue. Retrace your steps on what you did on the oil cooler / oil leaks. If the lifters are collapsing, that also means it is not getting air to run. Maybe do a compression test to verify that idea.

Its a stretch, but - did you put a new oil filter on it? If you did, try replacing it. Maybe something wrong internally in the filter stopping oil flow.

There is a test point to verify oil pressure. You may need to test that.

[1998Baja]

What about a noisy fuel injector making the ticking noise?