VR6 Hydraulic Lifter replacement

Seeking some advice from the mechanically minded

My Bora has had a ticking hydraulic lifter as long as I have had it.

Initially, Depending on the oil used, it generally would only be noisy at startup and after a bit of pretty spirited driving.

Now 20,000kms down the track it pretty much ticks all the time, savagely when cold (especially since the move to Canberra and it's sub zero mornings) and then faintly at idle once the engine is warmed up.

Today I changed the oil and used Shell Helix Ultra 5w40 and it is really noisy now, worse than before I changed the oil.

I know that to replace lifters I need to get access to the head, which means removing the intake manifold and possibly the radiator (and therefore the front of the car) which are tedious but doable jobs for a home mechanic but once I have the cover off the head, how hard is it? Do the cams need to come out (I'm guessing they do, but maybe I'm wrong)? Does anything else need to come out?

Is the replacement of lifters on a 24v VR6 within the realm of a fastidious amateur with a Bentley manual and the wife's permission to buy whatever tools are needed or should I really be sending it to my mechanic? If the mechanic is doing it is this going to cost me a tonne (like more than $500, more than $1000)?

wondering about why you went with the Helix oil .. i use Liqui-Molly 4100 .. works real well as it covers all vw applications .. sorry im not adding any info regarding your issue .. but just something to consider .

Sam

I used to use Castrol Edge Sport 5W30 and that has always been great but they reformulated it and called it Edge Titanium and it's crap now.

For a while I had some old stock of Edge Sport but I ran out. I was hoping a change to 5W40 might be a better summer oil. The Helix ultra is VW 502.00 and 505.00 rated and it was nearly half price so I took a punt on it.

May get more love over on vortex. I would say the cams have to come out otherwise you wont be able to get to the lifters.

VWVortex.com - 2.8l 24v VR6 Engine Forum

Thanks, I'll take a look over on vortex to see if anyone has asked the question before.

Spoke to a mechanic today who I do some barter work for (he fixes my car and I fix his computers) and he said that it's not so much that it's a hard job but it's a really technical job and if you get it wrong you can kill the engine, and that is before you even factor in taking cams out on a variable valve timing engine, so I am pretty sure I'm not going to try this one myself.

He advised me to put some "lifter free" in it and wait 2 weeks to see if it quietens the noise down (I was naive enough to think an additive like that would work within hours).