No subject

I bought (an 87 16v Scirocco) had horrible valve noise, and I used a product
called Engine Flush. Made by Gunk. You basically add it to the oil before the
oil change. Let the motor idle for 5 minutes with it and then change the
oil/filter as usual. Some 4000 miles later and the lifters are still good. I
like it, and it's cheap at any Pep Boys/Kragen, etc. 

Havn't heard anything about this Valve Kleen stuff, but if it's an additive I'd
stay away from it. I don't like to add anything to the oil I use. Additives (for
the most part) have not been shown to help. Just a very successful marketing
story. 

Back to the lifters. They are pressurized by oil, and they get noisy if either
their oil passage is blocked, or if they can't hold the pressure. Most of the
time the oil passage gets clogged, and using a motor flush can un-clog it. But
They don't have an unlimited life. 100K or so is to be expected, but after that,
some of 'em just have to be swapped out. 

BTW, If the lifters are always noisy, that means that the valves are not being
*lifted* to the proper height, and some performace is lost. This will be
regained once the lifters are "fixed"

HTH, 
Jonas