Technical tappety when cold

[arc]

howdy. i don't like hydraulic tappets. they're clicky and tappy and sound rubbish BUT this is what i have, when cold starting there is one that is quite loud. The engine has covered approx 40k in the stilo and 1k in my car. I was planning to flush it and do oil / filter change in approx 500miles but since this tappet is making more of a fuss - should i bring that forward? Is it causing damage, or just being noisy?

I'm swapping from 10w40 to 5w40, also what about semi or fully snythectic - and why?

 

[gazzaman2k]

empty its buckets and let it re hydrolize

 

[arc]

speak english to me, that sounds like the head has to come off, and when you do that all the valve gear falls all over the floor.

 

[fingers99]

Maybe a flush with rubbish oil, then onto the (thinner) oil of your choice? No idea of what FIAT recommend.

Could just be that the tappets are past their sell by date, but, then, I've no experience of that engine.

Emmas didn't sound tappety (at least, last year it didn't).

 

[arc]

fiat say 10w40 in the stilo and 5w40 in the GP. so i went with 10w40 to begin with. I'll flush it and stick some 5w40 in, see what it sounds like then

 

[gazzaman2k]

if they are anything like vauxhall engines....

get the head off and remove the cams and get the buckets off the valves and tap them on a hard surface to remove the tappets inside and then pop back in once the oil drains out and rebuild, then run it up as itll sound like a bag of spanners till the tappets set themselves again

 

[fiatash123]

Mine also does this but on the 1.1 engine in a sei sporting would like to get it sorted as nice induction sound, nice rumble janspeed back box aaaand....... constant tapping on tick over... bit of a let down lol!

 

[arc]

on yours it'll mean your valve clearances are wrong, it needs re-shimming.

 

[fiatash123]

on yours it'll mean your valve clearances are wrong, it needs re-shimming.

Right, expensive job? As wouldnt have the foggiest idea of how to that on my own lol!

 

[dave]

fiat say 10w40 in the stilo and 5w40 in the GP. so i went with 10w40 to begin with. I'll flush it and stick some 5w40 in, see what it sounds like then

the update tech sheets they sent out to dealers say 5w 40 in all the 16v fires. they updated it because of the tapping noise when cold

 

[fingers99]

Fairly easy job. Pretty well explained in the Haynes.

 

[Pep0]

Cause I'm unbelievably lazy I tried tapped noise reducer when I had a noisy tappet, ran it for 5 mins no difference swore and dug out the tools, then & re-started the engine to get it on ramps, for convenient working height, there was no noise on restart ... no noise!

Try Halfords first...

Noel

 

[fingers99]

Cause I'm unbelievably lazy I tried tapped noise reducer when I had a noisy tappet, ran it for 5 mins no difference swore and dug out the tools, then & re-started the engine to get it on ramps, for convenient working height, there was no noise on restart ... no noise!

Try Halfords first...

Noel

But reducing the noise -- on an engine with non-hydraulic tappets, is not what it's about. Wonder why it even worked?

 

[Pep0]

Sorry the car was an mk1 Mx-5.

Noel

 

[jrb1512]

on yours it'll mean your valve clearances are wrong, it needs re-shimming.

how much is that?

 

[Pep0]

You should be able to do it yourself, after you lift the cam shaft cover, the clearance can be measured easily (normal feeler gauge set) and with a home made tool (bent screw driver sort off) the shim can be extracted, and the next size up or down bought from Fiat dealer.

The trick is to reuse as many of the existing shims as possible although they are only a few euros each.

The difficult bit is getting the cover back on so it does not leak oil. It will probably be leaking already...

This procedure is part of the 40k miles service.

Noel

 

[fingers99]

how much is that?

How long is ball of string? You're probably looking at 50 quid or so.

 

[Adrian Bravo]

One or more of my tappets used to sound awfull cold and they would still sound loud even when warm. Aparrantly my tappets would have drained while my head was stripped, maybe that helps. After the rebuild with selenia oil they make very little to no sound when cold and no sound when warm.

The only other thing I did was make sure the rubber grommets to the tappet oil feed where clean and unblocked, a couple where clogged with plastic swarf from the manufacturing process. Though I expect your engine is totaly different.


Do you have any pictures under your 1.4 rocker cover?

EDIT: My 12v tappets are hydraulic/self adjusting

 

[Phoenix3dfx225]

Arc, you not worried? it all started with noisy tappets for me but then the piston disappeared. lol, maybe you have the same curse? Dont be trying to red line in 4th gear early saturday morning heading for some overtime. It'll end in tears :''(

 

[arc]

the horrible noise was just the alternator belt flapping about, since that left the car last thursday - it's been fine