98 Es 300 Engine Ticking Noise

[soundquest]

Hello all. Would greatly appreciate any input on this:

My mother's 98 ES 300 has 130K on it and the engine has a loud ticking sound coming from it. It does not seem to affect performance but has gotten noticeably louder over the past six months. Any ideas anyone. Thanks.

[Shayan]

check your tepids or how ever you spell that word.

My old corolla did that

it was due to low oil, and its the sound of metal on metal knocking.

check your oil level.

[soundquest]

Oil Level seems to be normal, maybe 1/2qt low if at all. Any other ideas anyone?

[dcfish]

The valves are out of adjustment. I beleive it is in the regular maintenance schedule for that mileage.