About a week and a half ago my car started in with a light ticking sound. I could only hear it when stopped at a light. I thought it was an exhaust leak so I let it go. Then I figured out that it sounded like a stuck lifter as the noise got louder. I put a quart of transmission fluid in with my oil change to try and free the stuck lifter. It's been in there for 5 days and no luck. The noise is annoying the hell out of me and I know it can't be good for my motor. What can I do to take care of this?

 

I have an exhaust leak that sounds just like valve tap.

One of the guys here pointed out that the exhaust leak will get worse as the load increases, and the valve tap will stay pretty much the same.

Just checking, cause I was about to tear my engine apart then I found that my exhaust manifold was cracked.