After my oil light came on and the lifters started clicking, I pulled over. After waiting for 5 minutes, I restarted and all sounded well. I drove for a few days and the same thing happed again. Nothing seemed consistent except for me pulling over and waiting for a few minutes. Changing the oil seemed to help but the problem came back.
I pulled off the oil pan. Simple to do - just remove 4 bolts that hold the front sway bar and take out the oil pan bolts. A quick inspection in the oil pickup strainer shoed that it was filled with carbon debris. I cleaned it out, cleaned out the pan, put on a new gasket with RTV sealant, and the car ran like a champ.
Note: Engine oil flushes (from your auto parts shop) will do you no good because the debris is too heavy to leave the pan when you drive. Also, the oil pan originally has no gasket and is sold with an RTV type gasket sealant. I believe that this is the best solution because I have had to do the above listed repair 6 months later, And I am 90% sure what I found in the pan was disintegrated parts of the cork/rubber gasket. This time I used high temp copper RTV sealant only.
Hope this helps someone out. Reply if it does.
JC