tappets

Newbie Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Posts: 19

Hi everybody

My engines been making a ticking sound lately it does it for a bit then it goes away, it increase speed with higher revs ive been told i might be the tappets

What do u guys reckon?

If it is the tappets how hard is it to repair and if i donâ€™t bother repairing it would it make any difference to my engine?

Thank u Shocked

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

if it is loudish ticking/tapping then prolly the tappet bit dirty, not too much to worry if it clears...

if it is a quietish ticking noise, then could be the injectors. what car is it? 16vs have loud injectors.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

you can use an additive for the tappets, the wynns stuff is good and I have recommended it to a few on here and its helped them.

Its one of the few additives that actually work!

Make sure the oils nice and new as well though.

Affiliate Joined: 28 Jan 2005 Posts: 360

Aren't they hydraulic tapets on the 16v anyway in which case, does the ticking go away after a few minutes of driving? If so, it'll be the rubber stem seals that have hardened.

Silly question but Rolling Eyes

have you checked your oil level recently? Common school boy error this Wink

Another possible... have you had the tensioner bearings checked? Our 2.2 Laguna made an interesting tapping noise a few weeks before the main aux belt tensioner gave it's life to the God of all things Renault... wasn't a cheap part either!

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

mick wtf are you on about? Valve stem seals only stop oil running down the valve, nothign else.

Go look in the knowledge base section under mechanical and you can see the tappets in bits and how to clean them.

Affiliate Joined: 28 Jan 2005 Posts: 360

exactly Chris... the oil seeps away from the valves when left and then takes a few moments to refill causing a "Tap" noise! Not discounting tappets either but I though hydraulic tappets were self adjusting.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

right the valve stem oil seals, they sit on the valve guide where the valve passes throug, Then the valve spring and cap are above that, then the tappet on top. The oil doesn;t have any free passage to the stem seals, oil gets there by spalsh only.

Hydraulic tappets use oil to fill, if you read the article you would know that.

Valaves make nop noise aside from when the valve head hits the valve seat.

Tappets take out the clearence beweetn the valve stem and the cam, if the tappets close up then theres a problem with the tappets in that they are not working properly.

Newbie Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Posts: 19

nice one

yeap its a 16valve

yeah the noise goes away after a bit of driving but sometimes comes bac. it started happening after i had an oil change, i used to have that wynns stuff in the old oil before so im guessing that stopped the noise.

ive learnt more about mechanics in this car than anyother car, im trying to keep it going othewise illl have to drive a ford ka 1.3l nooooooooooo. lol

Newbie Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Posts: 19

thank you for your helps guys as gals

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

do a search, theres been a few recent topic son this and the wynns gear.

What oil are you using? the wrong grade can make this problem crop up.

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

Site Subscriber Joined: 29 Jan 2005 Posts: 1108

I got the same problem, my tappets are much worse after an oil change. I can't tell you how to solve it though Rolling Eyes

Newbie Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Posts: 19

i had an oil change at formuler one its the top castrol oil im not sure what weight it is, but its stopped now, ive been driving it all day and not a tick.

i havent add the wynns stuff yet either.

from what ive read in the haynes manual its possible that the oil was drained out of the tappets when they emptied the old oil and now its stopped making the noise they might be full again.
then again ive just guessed that so it could be a load of bullcrap.

its just annoying because i changed the head gasket and water pump a week ago if i knew i had bad tappets i would have done that at the same time.