j2the-e

Of course they do. I must have been drinking when I wrote that. Not really. What I meant was that they don't have the type of lifters that typically cause noises like that. Like the hydraulic lifters used in mitsubishi engines with rocker arms. I should have elaborated a bit. I never really referred to the buckets as lifters.
Could be missing a shim though. Maybe worth a valve train inspection prior to tear down.

HighLux

It a terrible noise either way. No matter where it ends up being...something is getting chewed up.

96tacoma96

I am selling the truck today. I cleaned it up, and I will be making about $900. I just bought myself a nice 4Runner today. It's the 3.4, and it has 305k miles on it. Still running perfect!