It's a 4-cyl I4 petrol engine ('95 Mazda 626) with a ticking noise that matches with revs. I've had it for a while and it seems to be getting louder as time goes on. It doesn't go away even after longer drives.

The workshop I've used previously haven't highlighted it when I had the car in for an inspection, but after a recent incident it seems like they're rather incompetent unfortunately so I'd like some advice on this!

Thanks :)

#update x1

Spoke to the shop again and fished a bit for info. Guy at the desk re-confirmed that the gaiter was busted when I went there, and got rather apologetic when I pointed out that it wasn't.

They claim that they did notice the lifter tick but said that "it's common for older cars but you don't need to worry about it, and it's a lot of work to fix it", hence why they didn't point it out.

I'll probably postpone looking into this fully until after the road trip.