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Noisy tappett

craig2105

craig2105

New member
The next irritating problem is already here. Having just spent a small fortune on lots of belts/rollers/head gasket/water pump/hoses, my car is now making intermittent tappet noise. I am told it is difficult to tell which one(s) is/are making the noise b ut something has to be done - it sounds awful. Other than this the car is finally running really well.

Any suggestions and ideas of costs to sort it?

Thanks, Craig
 
Hi craig, have you taken the car for a good blast and had everything up to temperature?, if you have the first thing I would suggest is use wynns engine flush professional,add to the engine oil at working temp,run for 15-20 mins and drain,change oil and filter add a tin of wynns hydraulic tappet additive and all should be well. The wynns additives (professional) can be bought from probestore on the web,6cyl mazda and mazda based ford engines all suffer from hydraulic tappets blocking and hence not taking up the slack so probestore keep the wynns stiff in stock. This should sort your problem, if it does not you will have to try and ID the noisy tappet and change it,hope this helps John.
 
On mine to find two tappets that were noisy, I took the cam cover off, pulled the DME relay.
I pushed on each tappet where the valve was shut (cam pointy bit facing upwards), turned the engine over to check the rest.
I found that I was able to compress the offending tappets fairly easily with my finger.
 
Thanks Pegasus! Might well give that a go. I took the car on a good thrash down to Goodwood on the weekend I got it back on the road and it ran so well, but waiting in traffic on the way back, I noticed the tappet noise. Just so frustrating!
 
The engine uses a tappet design typical of VW's of a similar age, and they often get tappy.

Cleaners, as Pegasus says, are often a great help. An oil flush will be a good thing, or the Wynns product (which I think also has PCGB approval) is good. As is a good blast, but it sounds like you've tried that! [:D]

If you are still struggling then a slightly thicker grade of oil may help. What are you using currently? Thinner oils drain out of the tappets more easily, and a thicker one will stick around and keep things quieter.

Once you've made it go away, regular oil changes will keep it at bay. Use a flushing oil (or flushing additive) every time. My S2 was quite tappy when I first bought it, but it's fine now. Slight tapping from cold, but it goes away within a second or two after starting.


Oli.
 
Hi Craig, it is certainly worth trying a flush and oil change first,get eveything organised first,take the car for a run to warm it up,add the wynns and run at a fast tickover for 20 mins and than drain right away,take care with the oil as it will be hot, think positive,all the best John.
 
There are varying degrees of seriousness you can go to if the Wynns stuff doesn't work.

Next step would be a flush with some lightweight flushing oil. This is very thin stuff, designed only to be run in an unloaded engine at idle. Drain the old oil, replace with flushing oil. Run up to temperature and idle with the flushing oil in for 20 minutes. You must not drive the car with the flushing oil in it.

I have also heard several good stories about using a 50:50 mix of ATF and cheap engine oil for about 500 miles as a cleaner. Best used when the weather is warm (so no cold winter morning starts), and never stress the engine with it in (so no high revs or enthusiastic driving, and probably best not to labour the engine either). ATF is essentially a lubricant with a LOT of cleaners added to it, and used carefully is meant to clean engines fantastically well. Apparently the boys in the states use this trick quite often, and swear by it.

What has probably happened is that a small bit of carbon has jammed in the hole to the tappet, and is preventing proper flow of oil. All you need to do is shift that bit of carbon ...


Oli.
 
Chaps - advice invaluable as ever - thank you.

I think the oil in it is 15w40 - it's fresh after the recent work and has only done about 300 miles on it. I'm lining up the products and some ramps for the weekend after Easter, which will actually be its 3rd oil and filter change in 4000 miles!

In the meantime, I'm off for a little thrash to see if I can dirty the lube up a bit.

I'll report back after the Wynns treatment.

Thanks again, Craig
 
Forte top end treatment is also worth a go, I have never liked the Wynns stuff myself, always found the Forte stuff to be much better. I put it in my 180,000 GT TDI Golf and it quietened up the whole lot nicely, time for some new tappets at the next belt change!
Alasdair
 
Hmm. Love it when another alternative suggestion comes along just after deciding what to do...!

Anyway, after yesterday's trip out - all was silent. No undue tappet noise at all. So maybe something has shifted. Still, I think I will chuck in some treatment anyway as a bit of insurance.
 
Hi Craig good to hear its sorted,ther are lots of additives out there and all the big names are good,you could fill a post on a forum saying what is the best but you can only recommend from your our experience,both these additives do the same job as for what is best it would be very hard to prove,all the best John.
 
ORIGINAL: craig2105
Anyway, after yesterday's trip out - all was silent. No undue tappet noise at all. So maybe something has shifted. Still, I think I will chuck in some treatment anyway as a bit of insurance.
Click to expand...
Self-fixing cars - what a superb idea!

Glad to hear this. Regular oil changes with a flushing additive every 5000 miles is probably the best way to keep any future problems at bay.

Oh, and a good Italian tune-up from time to time as well!


Oli.
 
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