Alright guys, here's whats up. This morning I went to start my car. 03 bu with the 3.1 v6. When I started it, it made a semi-loud ticking noise, sounds like it was coming from the fuel pressure regulator, the fuel rail, and valve cover area. It sounds more like it was coming from the fuel system. It's not piston slap, I already know what that sounds like cause it has it. It did go away after a few minutes. It was around 43 degrees ferinheight outside. Now, it had been raining very hard yesterday and last night and mostly sat. Now I was talking to my dad and he said it could be low oil pressure. It threw no codes, neither oil light came on, and its full on oil. I started it up again when it was cold and it had no problems later in the day. This is the first time it's ever made this noise and when it's colder than what it was when I started, I'll start it again to see if it does it again.

bump to get somewhere.

So I started it later that night and no problems, been driving/starting it all day and no problems. Hopefully this won't come back.

could it be the common lifter tick upon startup on these cars?

I've never heard of our engines having lifter tick, I know it's common on the LS1s. It seems to be fine now and not doing it anymore.

Yeap lifter tick is a common issue on GM vehicles. It happens more when the weather turns cold, or if the engine has not been run in a while.

Yeah it did sit, my belt squeaks a little bit when it's cold and is in great shape, bought it brand new in the summer with a new tensioner.