Help! What is this noise?

[johnnycharger]

I am thinking this can't be too good. It did this once about a year ago for just a moment and then went away. I have driven about 1000 miles since then with no issues until this morning.

[johnnycharger]

So I turned the distributor a hair ccw and it went away....

[Lennard]

Glad we could help! 

[johnnycharger]

Lol. I still don't know why it started that all of a sudden when I was going down the highway. The distributor bolt was tight.

[birdsandbees]

I hear a collapsed lifter and an exhaust leak... 

[ottawamerc]

I hear a collapsed lifter and an exhaust leak... 

[johnnycharger]

Yup. The exhaust is leaking for sure. A possible collapsed lifter? How would I confirm that?
This morning  I took the kids to the first day of school in the charger as I do every year but then this problem came back half way there. It didn't go away with a timing change this time. 

[fy469rtse]

You will have to pull the rocker cover  on the side you suspect its on and turn engine over by hand ,
To have rockers in closed position , affected lifter will push down fairly easy
You could run it , but it will be messy with valve cover off it , check push rods are straight also

[johnnycharger]

You will have to pull the rocker cover  on the side you suspect its on and turn engine over by hand ,
To have rockers in closed position , affected lifter will push down fairly easy
You could run it , but it will be messy with valve cover off it , check push rods are straight also

Thanks!  Added to my "to do" list this weekend.

[johnnycharger]

So I have both valve covers off and everything looks ok. I bumped the engine a few times and still don't fund anything  alarming.  I started it up (made an oil mess) and noticed the noise went away again. This one isn't fun! Any suggestions? ?