Lifter ?

[mtnrgr]

Getting

 

[RonD]

Hard call

Lifters don't fail that often, especially after only 34k miles
1 out of 12 is almost a 10% failure on this new Batch of lifters

But on the other side, is that 11 didn't fail so are probably just fine, and at least Tested for 34k,

I am sure mechanic will check but just mention to check the Cam lobes on #6 for abnormal wear.
It could be the oil passage is blocked for a #6 lifter so it would "tick" but also cause higher wear on that Cam lobe

 

[RonD]

The products that are used for this generally won't hurt anything, they use chemicals that swell gasket and seal material, also soften it so it can seal better.
Same stuff is used for Automatic Transmission Fix products, swells seals and gaskets to get pressure back up

So hard to put the two things together, but cause and effect, 2 weeks is too close to ignore as the possible cause of the ticking


There is probably a bur on the crank shaft which mechanic didn't feel so it tore up the new main seal fairly fast, you will probably need a Sleeved rear main seal installed, not expensive but of course transmission has to be pulled out.

 

[RonD]

Leaking rear main seal should not change oil pressure in the engine..........but that being said the rear main leak getting worse and the tick starting at the last lifter in the engine oiling passages also probably can't be ignored.

I do not have an oil passage diagram for the 3.0l Vulcan, so can't say if the two are related AT ALL, but coincidence only goes so far, lol.

Should be a SLEEVED seal kit for the rear main

 

[RonD]

Do you have a 3rd party oil pressure gauge in the cab?
Dash gauge just shows if oil pressure is above 5psi, an on/off gauge

Main seals prevent oil that is squirting out of the front and rear main bearings from leaking out along spinning crank shaft.
So seal needs to ride tightly on a smooth crank surface.

If there even a slight nick on the crank surface the seal will start to get torn up and over time start to leak, and because main bearings use lots of oil the leak can get pretty bad.
It is not technically a "pressure leak" since it is not an oil passage but still leaks alot of oil once it starts to leak
And the nick can be caused by removing and installing a new seal, an "oops" slip of a tool.

The fix is to pull out the crank shaft and have it resurfaced to get rid of the nic, OR put a sleeve on the crank shaft where seal rides so nick is covered
Sleeve kit comes with the sleeve and a slightly larger seal to ride tightly on the new smooth surface.
Very common to sleeve rear main seals, simple install and not expensive, assuming engine or transmission is removed

 

[RonD]

Generally speaking you won't get valve train noise until oil pressure at the sender is under 4psi, and sender on the 3.0l is at the top side of the engine so lifter tick is probably not pressure related.
But odd coincidence for the tick to start as seal leak got worse