(T) noisy hydraulic tappets

Got very noisy tappets when engine is hot, suspect blocked followers.
anybody else had this problem on a 1.8 stilo?

If the tappets were at fault would the problem not be more apparently when the engine/oil was cold?

Yup, problem shoud be more apparent when the engine is cold. If the engine doesn't make that kind of noise when cold, it's unlikely to be the tappets.

Does anyone elses 1.6 sound like a tractor for a few seconds after its been turned on???

Not like a tractor but noisy tappets for about 30secs, yeah!

Hydraulic followers can be noisy ven when hot, oil becomes too thin reducing pressure inside follower. Spoke to Fiat today, they have heard oproblem. said they will try different oil. May have to start telling them that I am actually an engine technician!

My 1.8 dynamic (petrol) sounds like an old diesel hackney taxi always has, probably always will. Don't know if that helps your case any...

It's epecially bad starting from cold, or if I've tanked it down the motor way at 90, stopped, then started it 15 minutes later. I always thought that it was that crap italian pizza oil they put in it. Maybe lacking in the viscous department.

Just got my car back from the dealers, they fixed gearbox oil leak, no questions asked.
They replaced oil with fiat recommended oil, (selinia) excuse the spelling.
Guess what. no more tappet noise - fantastic.
praise where praise is due, Arnold Clark in Elgin were really good for a change, service manager couldn't have been more helpful!!!

the 1.8 is a very silent engine and if you have a 1.8 which makes that noise then you have a broken timing-variator which needs to be replaced
once this part is changed the engine is very silent also at start up
many 1.8 had a bad variator mounted and this was a japanese part of the engine
guaranteed solution

My 1.8 Dynamic had recently started to be diesel-like for about 5 seconds at start-up. This happens mostly at work however where other people can hear it... when no-one else is around its as silent as anything.

Is this serious... yet another thing to get fixed (the list is long enough already)... or can it be left alone? I remember my Brother's old VW Polo's tappets were really noisy at start up and nothing ever happened to that...

the damaged/broken variator causes the diesel noise
if left unchanged, a 1.8 engine with a damaged variator is not affected at all and it will not get damaged (same performance), potentially the broekn variator could be left on the engine for good, but then the noise will be there for ever!!!

the variator can be changed under warranty, and once you have a new variator your car is as silent as you would expect and you will regret the fact that u left the noise for so long

with a new variator the quick tappets noise at start up disappears as well....

so whats the cure for the same noise on 1.6 models?

This is all fascinating. My Stilo is very quiet - depending on the position of the accelerator! I'm not sure what a variator is or it's function. Would one of you gentlemen enlighten me please?

Bloody Hell, James, are you thick or what?

A variator is a little gadget in the engine somewhere, which, when working correctly, stops it from having noisy tappets!

(Could'nt help that, sorry)

The variator regulates the camshaft timing across the rev range. If it isn't working properly/broken then you'll lose performance so get it fixed under warranty. I had the same problem in the Alfa GTV got it replaced along with the cambelt and tensioners, no more diesel impressions.