engine cleaner/flush that they claim has seen good results in their shop, immediately clearing up lifter tick (has been a posting or two on the forum about it).
Runs around $30 or so - but some have had concerns about the possibility of dislodging gunk in the block and getting it stuck in a turbo oil feed line (not much of an issue for NA engines).
I'd go with your method first since it's low cost and easy to try...