I have a ticking/knocking noise in my engine that goes away when I rev it up or after the engine warms up a few minutes. I am due for an oil change so i thought I would run some seafoam through it and clean out any deposits that may have built up over the last 230k miles. The previous owner was religious about oil changes. he was the second owner and bought it when it was 1 year old so I am sure he took pretty good care of it. I was living in South dakota and recently moved to Las vegas so I was just wondering what oil is recommended for the hotter weather down here. Should I run the seafoam and change the spark plugs and oil or should I run some other engine treatments instead?

Are you low on oil presently?

No, but it was run a little low on oil once

Is the ticking sound coming from the cylinder head ?? If so you prob need to do a valve clearance adjustment its recommend for the 5sfe every 60k to check and adjust, for the knocking check to make sure your timing is not off it should be 10btdc.

Actually after listening to it again, I think it is coming from under the timing cover. Probably need a new tensioner.

I do still need a recommendation on oil and any treatments you guy advise.

Do you mean oil weight or oil brand recommendations ?? For winter weather I use valvoline 5w30 high mileage oil and mix half a quart of ATF in the crankcase with every oil change. I don't use any oil additives or recommend them to anyone I tried lucas oil stabilizer once but it just decrease my mpg and power it did quiet down my motor though.

why the hell would you put 0WT AFT in your engine? that will dillute your oil viscosity. bad idea! as for the small tick. it might also be piston slap from worn cylinder walls. but id go with valve adjustment first too without hearing it

The first time I took my valve cover off their was some sludge build up even though I change the oil every 3-4k miles, its mainly to help clear out some of that build up without taking chucks out at a time.