D2 4ltr ticking

Afternoon, I've searched through forums and found old and new advise on ticking from V8's of different sizes, with various causes ranging from sticking valves through to dropped liners and worn cams, with solutions such as flushing with diesel engine oil (?) to whipping heads off.

I'll describe my problem and what i've done so far. I've a D2 4ltr auto with lpg with around 110,000 miles on the clock.

It started occasionally ticking a couple of weeks ago. It doesn't do it from cold, only when it's warmed up, and only when it is not under load. It comes and goes, occasionally ticking when idling and then infuriatingly disapearing all together. It sounds like metal tapping metal and that it is coing from the drivers side bank of the vee, but with all the extra lpg plumbing and being a short arse, it's difficult to pin point. It doesn't seem to be the exhaust manifold as i have checked around this as much as possible and there doesn't appear to be any leaks. Also, as it is intermittant, i've rules out the cam, dropped liners, bend rods and only presume it is the hydrbaulic lifters in some way.

It used to have Shell Helix 5w 40 in it, but due to price and millage, I changed the oil and filter and put 20w40 in it. The ticking became worse so I chose to give the engine a flush (I know not the best idea) with a tin of Wynns Oil Flush (I know, not the best). I changed the oil again with the filter, and on advise, put in 5W30. The ticking got worse, so again on advise of a mechanic friend and other forums, put in a tin of Wynns Hydrualic Valve Lifter Concentrate, which seems to have helped a little as the ticking is less frequent. I have done about 20 miles of low intensity millage so it should be mixed and found its way into all the channels.

Do people think I am chasing the right problem here as I seem to have become fixated with the hydraulic lifters?

Is one tin of Concentrate enough (It says it will treat upto 6ltrs, which is close to the capacity of my engine) or should I add some more as it seems to have helped?

Should I use a thicker oil due to the age and millage? Its 1999 MY.

Could the problem be something else? I noticed earlier that the front drivers chassis rail has oil on it which could be coming from the auto box oil cooler. I haven't had time to investigate if i'm losing transmission oil. Would the auto box tick when it reached temperature if the oil was low?

Many thanks in anticipation of your answers.

Hi.

My brothers engine does this and it is going back to the engine suppliers as it has only done three thousand miles.
We have tried and checked a lot of things including thicker oil and it still only does it when warmed up.

Hopefully between us we might get an answer...

Nick.

try 10w40 , seems to make mine run the quietest out of all the grades

The wonders of the web. Found this which although a different V8, sounds as if it has almost exactly same ticking like mine. However, mine is intermittant, some time it's there all the time, others it runs smooth even when idling.

my 3.9 does the same sometimes but nowhere near as noisy as that. I dont know what it is but as it only does it sometimes, (normally when warmed up a bit) I am just gonna ignore it

The latest trial has been to add Forte engine flush and idle it for an hour, then oil & filter change. It seems to have worked as the tapety noise has reduced considerably, but it still hasn't disappeared.
Interestingly, when I smelt the Forte, it doesn't have a petrol/naptha smell like Wynns & STP have, so it may not be so much of snake oil additive.
I'm going to run it for a month and then repeat the flush when it goes in for a service in March.

You're probably getting the noise when warm on tickover because thats when your oil pressure is lowest.

Why, I dunno, sorry!

if not exhaust manifold gaskets ,i would go for hydraulic tappets,you can improve them maybe with differentoils and additives but you wont fix them ,dropped liners is only possible under extreme failure as liners sit on a step in casting ,check cam lobes when replacing hydraulic lifters ,100k is good for a set of tappets

You say you have lpg. I presume its sequentual. With the cold weather recently the o rings in the injectors get fooched and sound like a little hammer. Maybe its one of these. Easy repair and described how to fix on one of my listings. Just a thought.

Brothers range rover is off to the engine suppliers tomorrow so i will let you know what they think is wrong with their engine.....could be interesting!

Nick.

Update....the engine supplier has had the car back into their workshop and is stripping the engine to see what is wrong with it.....they suspect dodgy rocker arms, which they admitted to me on the phone before christmas that they had had a batch that were sub standard.......so if it is those we shall expect to have them changed for nothing thnakyou ta......

I'll let you know when i do.

Nick.

cool , its hard to get good parts now- did they say what brand they were or where they got em?

Hi fett....no they didn't....and based on their recent, "No you don't need to bring it in before the warranty runs out" and then "Your warrantys run out, we never said you could bring it in" ......we'lll be having some fun when it comes to paying for it, so may not get as far as "Who supplied the parts then?"

This company who are well known (i have gone to V8 Developments for my current disaster who have been brill) seem to be using the same suppliers as everyone else, certainly when it comes to chatting anyway.........i have to say though that the engine that is in my truck before it broke is what i assumed to be fitted by landrover and the rockers failed in that as well....who do they use, and how would you confirm that their suppliers were telling the truth.......i spose it's because it's all driven by price....

Nick.

who messed up then? PM me if you want!

..Your not the fisrt person to say that.....when my brother got there the gaffer was very much as i describe above but the engine guy came out with the stethescope and said after a quick listen "ooooh....we'll get the covers off and get that sorted" while the gaffer was still kinda spluttering and mumbling that he hadn't decided what he was going to do yet......i shan't use them again, unless they pull some serious customer pr.......the very least that my brother said he would except was free fixing and a years extra warranty.....

its almost worth doing it yourself- twice if need be and still maybe having some change, eve after buying tools!

....i made a mistake this time which was i thought someone else would do it quicker than me.......no complaint's about V8 devs, they have been brill......but if it happens again (please god nooooooooooo!) i will just do it here......
I was reading an article in mag about a 4.0 v8 d2 used in Africa i think that went through three sets of head gaskets......it could have been down to incompetance/bad fitting but if not , in 62,000 miles thats either a shineing fault related to heat issues or real bad luck......

Nick.

......so, the unmentioned engine supplier has (to their credit) stripped down to the rocker arms and replaced them, with no charge.
One of the pads had fallen off.........after only 3,770 miles.......

To recap, it was a gentle ticking, which only occured when it was warm, still did it when Serpentine belt was removed, definately was nothing to do with torque converter and was present in a new engine....hope that helps some one.

Nick.

njh2 said:

......so, the unmentioned engine supplier has (to their credit) stripped down to the rocker arms and replaced them, with no charge.
One of the pads had fallen off.........after only 3,770 miles.......
Nick.

Click to expand...

So has the noise gone now?

....yes, it wasn't coming back until it was fixed....