Hydraulic Valve Lifters sounding when engine is cold..?

Depending if the car needs valve adjustment cold starts with have tick, pinging is rich or lean air/fuel mixture.

 

"Squeal" = could also be caused by an over-tightened belt. Consider the alternator/water pump belt tensioner bearing. Also, god forbid, consider the cam timing belt tensioner bearings. Noise when cold could be caused by the low grease volume (due to extrusion) in the bearings, it will make the noise when cold until the grease re-distributes under load. When was the last 30K major? Check it out.

"Lifter Noise" = usually a "tick, tick.."-type of noise. Valves on F355 are hydraulic, no adjustment is possible. Noise when cold could possibly indicate oil starvation (low pressure or volume). How is your oil pressure? Oil levels? Oil/filter change? What type and viscosity of oil are you using?

 

Look at the air injection rails where they are welded to the headers. Just above the weld bead a crack can often be found in the tube that will sound just like a hydraulic lifter gone bad. Ticking sound will go away in 30 seconds as heat expands the header. On headers with this failure you can see traces of carbon in the area of the failure better than you can see the actual crack.

Remove all of the accessory drive belts and see if the noise is gone. If not then a failing or improperly adjusted cam belt tensioner is suspect. If the noise is gone the common issues are usually with the alternator or its tensioner bearing. Easy to pinpoint by adding one belt at a time and listening for a change.

 

VERY INTERESTING......... Thanks, Dave! Ya, gotta love the knowledge-base on FChat!!!