4L 1999 Classic Intake/Oil pan tick?

I have a tick that comes and goes on my 1999 Jeep Cherokee Classic. It's a 4L 6-Cylinder.
It gets louder when the engine warms up, but it seems to come and go every few seconds on idle. It speeds up with the engine RPM as well but is a bit more consistent (not on/off every few seconds.)
It sounds like it's coming from the intake manifold area/exhaust manifold area, or the oil pan which is strange- It doesn't sound like it's coming from the valve cover but I can't be 100% on that, I have pretty bad hearing.

Planning on changing oil and oil filter soon. It seems like it started as I bought some gas last week, and it's been a tad chilly out. Any recommendations? Should I change oil weight? To my belief it has the stock oil weight in the engine.

Thanks in advance!

Here's a clip of the noise if it helps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK2hi8XJqpM

 

Welcome @Crawler27 ....we got several good 4.0L jeepers here that are probably busy celebrating XMAS. My take is it's not lifters or exhaust. In the mean time there is a small chance an oil change with fresh+correct oil weight might silence it.

 

Starting to lean towards it being the flex plate, but the sound is heavy under the intake area and mostly on the drivers side.

 

I had a similar sound and it ended up being piston slap, more so in the #2 (iirc) and the #5 cylinders.

 

You could try one of those stethescopes that can be purchased from an auto parts outfit. Sound does travel quite good through metal and can be hard to determine just where the tick is coming from, it has helped me out though.

 

Confirmed it wasn't the flex plate, switched oil to Rotella 15w-40, it sounded quieter on start but it's still there once warming up. Not sure. It could be piston slap. I also have someone saying it could be a rod bearing.

The oil seemed sort of foamy when removing it, there was no metal though when I drained it through a strainer.

I could certainly use one with my bad hearing, it does sound like its under the intake though the loudest, but on the camera it sounds near the oilpan. On the passenger side its not as audible for sure.

 

Update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9F1zIi4HK8

I took off the serpentine belt, the noise appeared to go away- again I have bad hearing as well. My best guess is it's the water pump. The best way I could describe that noise was just this obnoxious rattling that you'd think was valves. It did sound way front-engine ish. I can't be all the way certain, again because the noise isnt very loud on the passenger side. But its audible from the front almost through the radiator and the intake/exhaust manifold side.

 

From my experience, when water pumps start to go, they don't last long after that. As for serpentine belts, after awhile they do start to make noises and its always good to have a spare.

 

My son's Toyota Highlander had a similar warbling noise which turned out to be the water pump. Leaks from the water pump are not the only clue of imminent failure.