NO amount of "ticking" is normal AFTER initial startup. It should go away within seconds.
Depending on how sensitive your hearing is, if you hear a "purr" of "clicking", that can be normal and is the INJECTORS, NOT the valve train. This is different that what I am referring to with the very mechanical CLACKING noise heard as the 6.2 if fired up. This is usually after a hot shutdown, whereas the lifter rack becomes drained and dry since the oil has become thinned out.
HTH
Yea, I've always heard that noise on start up and ignored it because of that reason, but the ticking I'm talking about is after all that and unilateral. Meaning on one side only and I'm not sure how mechanical it could be. I can't hear it in the cab though. I've heard of injectors making that noise, but I don't know how fast they tick or how noisy it is. This doesn't sound like 8 injectors firing in sequence. Unfortunately I don't have the money at the moment to have a dealership dig into the motor. I noticed it off roading in NM and it made it all the way up to Denver and then home to NC without getting "worse". My buddy's Raptor doesn't even make the slightest noise and he's at 130k and tows a horse trailer with a goose neck attachment in the bed. Mine is at about 103k after all that driving (NC to Houston to northern NM to Denver to TN then home), so I'm sure there are a bunch of things that are going to start popping up. I just no longer have a second vehicle, so shop time isn't ideal either. Just have to wait for a work trip that's at least a couple months long. I'm sure a ton of folks are gonna face palm after reading that, but I didn't have a choice but to drive back to NC like that. It's since sat in the driveway.
EDIT:
While I was in NM I did an oil change due to all the driving I was doing and still needed to do. I decided to also try a remedy for valve ticking. Figured what could be the big deal? High mileage engines start doing stuff like this at some point. Used the Lucas engine oil treatment with 5W-20 high mileage full synthetic. Since getting back to NC (a little less than 3,000 miles later), I haven't heard the ticking (knock on wood). I'll likely start using 5W-30 since my truck is at 104k. Spark plug change showed some dirty plugs and one wire that was disconnected for who knows how long. So new wires are in order. Didn't want to do just one. Would that cause the ticking? I'm not sure how far off the end of the plug it was, the sound I heard was similar to the snap or tick you hear when testing a spark plug.
