I bought a Fiat Marea 155 20v last Monday and I have to say I'm very impressed with it! It is a 1999 model and replaces my Rover 600ti. It's nowhere near as fast but has much more character and sounds glorious. It's only done 44000 miles and is almost immaculate. The only fault I can find is that it has a definite knock from one of the tappets and low down it sometimes has no pull whatsoever but will suddenly take off like a rocket!
I saw an item by polecat on google where he mentioned sticky variable valve timing and wondered if anyone has had similar problems? I apologise if this topic has been covered before on the forum but I can't find the posting! Is the VVT a function of the tappets? Can you clean them up to get rid of the problem? Any advice warmly welcomed.

Welcome to the forum.

I'm not familiar with this car so I may be wrong but i don't think fiat has vvt or any variable valve timing. Tappets can be cleaned though as long as you don't use sandpaper

Hi Billy (can't help thinking that's a spoonerism.... )

The vvt problems Dave had I seem to remember he sorted with a bottle of valve train cleaner, something you chuck in the oil.

Smokeme - The Fiat Barchetta 1.8, Bravo & Marea 2.0 20v, Stilo 2.4 20v (and no doubt others I have missed) have variable valve timing. There's a solenoid / actuator thing built into the intake camshaft.

fixitagaintomorrow said:

Hi Billy (can't help thinking that's a spoonerism.... )

The vvt problems Dave had I seem to remember he sorted with a bottle of valve train cleaner, something you chuck in the oil.

Smokeme - The Fiat Barchetta 1.8, Bravo & Marea 2.0 20v, Stilo 2.4 20v (and no doubt others I have missed) have variable valve timing. There's a solenoid / actuator thing built into the intake camshaft.

Click to expand...

So it's a single stage then right? have to get a look at one of those heads

I think it's got a few different positions, but I might be wrong. The quotes in the handbook suggest it's more than an on/off arrangement.

Well I'm so chuffed!
Less than 24 hours after posting a question the problem is sorted.
I nipped out to Halfords and bought some Wyns hydraulic tappet treatment, bunged it in, went for a short drive (about seven miles) and the car is now running perfectly. All the noise from the tappets has gone as well.
Massive thanks to you guys.

Cheers,

Billy.

Hi Billy,
Glad you got sorted. I've had no repeat problems since I used the cleaner.
When I changed the oil on my last service I did a flush and then added some ZX1. May be a waste of money but I feel better for it

Good to hear Billy, does it go any better now?

Mark.