Mine developed this noise, too, after a long storage the winter before
last. It would *sometimes* go away if I got the engine warmed up
completely and then shut it down for 20-30 minutes. A more experienced
engine person than me attributed this to different metals all getting to
the same temperature and then cooling together.

I was assured by the mechanic that it wasn�t harmful (the noise is valve
�lifters� not the valves themselves), and lived with it for quite a while.
During a recent major tuneup and oil change, the mechanic added some
Automatic Transmission Fluid to the engine oil and let the engine idle for
an hour (!). Then he drained the oil and replaced it. The noise has
(almost) completely gone away.

You may find that your noise goes away by itself after driving it for a
few days. I would certainly try that first before doing any more serious
things. And the Automatic Transmission Fluid �fix� may or may not have
been a real thing, but it cost next to nothing and seems to have worked
for me.

The best way to keep it away is to drive it regularly, if find.

On 2015-04-11, 9:01 AM, "Stuart Fedak" <ve3smf@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>I just picked up my 1986 Vanagon Westfalia GL 2.1 from storage, where it
>has been for the past six months.  The engine started up fine, but it now
>has a sticky valve type sound on the driver side of the engine.  This
>noise was not there last fall when the Vanagon was put into storage.
>
>Is this something that has to be corrected right away, or is this
>something that will go away with time?  What could cause this noise from
>happening, right after longer term storage?
>
>Your thoughts?
>Stuart
>Ottawa, ON
>
>Sent from my electronic umbilicus