3.7 L tick

Hey guys my wife's 04 dodge Dakota 3.7L V6 truck has just developed a what I
think is a lifter tick when cold. when you first crank it up in the mornings
it has a very noticeable tick from the right (passenger side) hand cylinder
bank its not a rattle or a big thump just a tick that goes away after about
3 to 5 minutes. after that its good all day long no problems at all till you
let it sit for awhile.
then it might make a tick for maybe just a sec or 2 then its gone.
we use either Castrol 10w-40 or Pennzoil 10w-40 in it and usually a fram
tough guard filter oil is changed frequently as she drives about 200 miles a
day.
any ideas as what this problem is and what I need to do to fix it.
I'm thinking a lifter that's loosing prime over night or leaking down.
truck runs fine other wise. no other problems at all. I'm not familiar with
this engine at all I'm assuming since I've seen some engine specs on the net
on this motor its OHC and not OHV (pushrod?).I added some marvel mystery oil
to it Thursday night and it seemed to help some and I'm planning on changing
the oil this weekend I'm just curious as to what the problem might be and
what the fix is I have to keep this truck on the road as it is her work
truck and she needs it very much.
thanks in advance,Charles

"Defiant" <Defiant.TakeThisOut@none.com> wrote in message
news:88b7f$493b20c7$4b5b8670$17632@ALLTEL.NET...
> Hey guys my wife's 04 dodge Dakota 3.7L V6 truck has just developed a what
> I think is a lifter tick when cold. when you first crank it up in the
> mornings it has a very noticeable tick from the right (passenger side)
> hand cylinder bank its not a rattle or a big thump just a tick that goes
> away after about 3 to 5 minutes. after that its good all day long no
> problems at all till you let it sit for awhile.
> then it might make a tick for maybe just a sec or 2 then its gone.
> we use either Castrol 10w-40 or Pennzoil 10w-40 in it and usually a fram
> tough guard filter oil is changed frequently as she drives about 200 miles
> a day.
> any ideas as what this problem is and what I need to do to fix it.
> I'm thinking a lifter that's loosing prime over night or leaking down.
> truck runs fine other wise. no other problems at all. I'm not familiar
> with this engine at all I'm assuming since I've seen some engine specs on
> the net on this motor its OHC and not OHV (pushrod?).I added some marvel
> mystery oil to it Thursday night and it seemed to help some and I'm
> planning on changing the oil this weekend I'm just curious as to what the
> problem might be and what the fix is I have to keep this truck on the road
> as it is her work truck and she needs it very much.
> thanks in advance,Charles
>

Get a CLOSE listen as to where that tick is coming from. I once bought a
minvan for half the price of its value when the owner thought it was a
lifter problem. I gave it a close listen and determined the "tick" was an
exahust leak and took the price he was asking.

My sister has a couple of Sebrings and one developed a tick. Her mechanic
put in syntheic oil and the tick went away.