I have a good old 1996 Camry 4 cylinder with 95000 miles on it. Runs good. The engine has a small rear oil seal leak which I treat with an oil additive that swells the seals.
Is there some additive I can use to quiet the moderately noisy valves? Would it be an additive to the oil, or to the fuel system?
If this problem is really noisy ticking valves the first thing to do is raise the hood and check the underhood sticker to see if there is a spec shown on it for “valve lash”.
I believe the engines in these cars use mechanical lifters and valve lash, or clearance, should be inspected about every 30k miles. Ones that are excessively noisy can cause cam lobe damage and ones that are excessively tight can cause valve burning.
Loose valves will tick all of the time. If this noise is a rattle that only occurs on acceleration then the most likely cause would be pinging due to an EGR fault.
Check the PCV valve also since this could cause the rear main seal leak you have.
Good advice from OK4450.
Here is a link to an additive that you could try. I haven’t used it but if I needed it I would get it.