It was covered rather extensively in this thread.
Recently, the problem returned and it was getting so bad, the car was ticking like a cheap watch
Not good as it puts a strain on the pump.I knew, from the behaviour of the front, that the problem was with the front hydractive electrovalve leaking. Previously, I'd had a go at overhauling the valve but was a bit stuck as it could not be removed complete from the sphere block, applying a socket to the 16mm top hexagon just undid the top part of the valve and left the body in the sphere block. I did what I could at the time in-situ and it worked for a while.
This time I had to remove the valve complete and for this I needed a 24mm deep socket and because of how the valve body sits in the block, I needed to grind the first eighth inch or so of the socket quite thin to make it fit.
Once the valve body came out, the real problem became apparent. It was full of black muck. Despite the LHM being really quite clean at first glance, it is full of fine debris and so therefore time for a hydraflush (which I've never done on the V6), a filter clean and a fresh dose of LHM.
I fitted a replacement electrovalve and for now the soft tick rate is back to normal but due to the muck still floating around, I don't expect it to last, at least until I get some hydraflush in there.
As a bonus, the ride seems better but that may be my imagination as I've been driving Activas an 206s recently...