HLA noise and cam wear

[cientortas]

I have been experiencing a ticking noise, proportionate to engine rpm. It is coming from the valve train over cylinder 1. This has been going on for many months...back when I thought it was a chain tensioner, I posted about it: zerothread?id=319807

I tried BG Quick Clean with no change. I used BG MOA for a couple of OCIs and the noise was still there. I also did about 5 short OCIs with no change. I didn't drive the car much, so I was not too worried about it.

I finally got around to resealing my valve covers, which have been leaking slightly. I pulled the driver side cover and found the insides to be extremely clean...almost clean enough to eat off of. (Synthetic oil with M1 filter every 4K miles under my ownership). See pics.





But I also noticed that one of the cam lobes on cylinder 1 had a uniform scratch on it. This is where the sound is coming from, so I am guessing that the HLA here is collpased and is allowing the rocker arm to strike the came lobe too hard?





I don't think I can change the HLA without removing the cam. Is that right? I'm thinking I'll just do a few more short OCIs to see if I can spring that HLA to life. What suggestions do people have? Thanks.
Modified by cientortas at 9:11 PM 1/20/2009

[maxnix]

Frequent OCI with a high detergent oil, BG Quick Clean run at idle 15 minutes immediately before draining.

Read the FSM before you decide to replace. Not a wolk in the park.

[Infinitiguy19]

OMFG thats a clean engine it makes every other engine I have see so far trash compared to yours.

But beware of those cam bolts as the heads can be easly striped or you could even break the tool.

But if your going to replace those just remove the engine and replace EVERTHING.