How can u tell if the lifters r bad

Lifters need to be bled down to see if they are good. Not very many places can t'do this, so they just replace them. However if your cam lobes are worn that may have done it and you need more than what you can diagnose. If they were within spec then replacement is the only option to fix it. If the ticking still is there then it may be something else.

They are mostly all the same, trouble is though if you didn't mark where the lifters came from it will eat up the cam lobes because they all wear differently on the lobes. Originally you could have tried some lifter type cleaner in the engine along with changing theoil before ripping it apart. Sometimes the stuff works and sometimes it doesn't