Ticking sound coming from top side of motor

SOURCE: Idle and gear shifting 1987 celica automatic

I would suggest hat you replace the timing belt. The noise that you hear is the belt.

SOURCE: 2001 Toyota Corolla lifter noise

Check your timing or could be timing belt out of 1 tooth. This model of corolla does not use lifter.

SOURCE: 2000 camry. blown head gasket (daughter drove car

Yes, you can, but not exactly recommended. If you are going to go that deep into it, then might as well do everything else. However, being unemployed tends to have a negative impact on the wallet....

I suspect it is more than just rings. I think that the walls have been scored badly as well. You may be able to use a borescope to take a peak into the cylinder through spark plug hole. Move the piston to bottom of stroke, and see what you can see. If scarred, much work will be needed. If hatches look alright, then you might be able to get away with just rings.

What kind of compression are you getting on #1 vs #2? This also might be a blown headgasket into an oil passage, or the head (perhaps block?) is ever so slightly warped in this area.

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SOURCE: i have a 1998 toyota camry le with 131,000 miles.

sounds like lifters, rods normally make a knocking sound try putting a couple of bottles of engine flush in and run the car around the block a couple of time then drain the oil and change the filter and replace the oil with a quality 15w 40 grade oil and see if the noise clears up. if it is still there you can try product called moreys oil addative this often helps quiet down liftes if still no good oyu may need to replace your lifters

SOURCE: I have 1999 Toyota Camry CE 4 Cylinder, my water

The belt is either too tightly fixed or a bit loose.

See to that but it does not affect the running of the car in anyway.

Cheers.