1.8 sounds like diesel

1.8 freelander keeps horrible tapping sound. It sounds like diesel.
I just bough it and it has not been driven for year. Camshaft sensor and alternator was also bad. I replaced them. Oil looks good.
I measured cylinder pressures and 1cyl has only 6bar when others have 8-10bar.

I took camshaft away. Maybe hydraulic lifter is stuck or something? Can i clean it somehow?

Was that the first start up after a year? Did it not quieten down after a while? Has it had any head work done before you got it?

The 1.8 can be noisey after reassembly from head work. You can wind the motor over on the starter with the plugs out to get oil circulating and that makes for a quite start up. However, possible causes: noisey lifter/s, carelessly applied sealant when reassembling the cams and cam carrier.
You could try a flushing oil, it may clear away gum deposits that might be affecting a lifter. If you suspect blocked cam carrier oil ways it requires taking the cam carrier assembly off. It's not an especially demanding job.

The K-series uses hydraulic tappets driven by oil pressure. As HTR says, after a prolonged lay up or rebuild, the hydraulic tappets take a while to re-fill and become quiet. Prolonged noisy tappets can be a sign of low oil level or low oil pressure. Or of a gunked up tappet or blocked oil way.

Another cause of a tapping noise (more of a phut-phut really) if the exhaust manifold is leaking. The car will be a little low on power too, but this can be hard to detect.

Tes it was first start up in year but I have driven it hot and some few kilometers and I also tried rev, but didn't help.

I dont know if there has been head work. Belt and water pump was changed year / 1000km ago.

I took hydraulic lifter apart and I will clean all of them. If it won't help maybe i try flushing engine with diesel or checking oil pump.

I'd undertake an oil flush first if you think that the noise is from the tappets. Unfortunately, the tappets are inaccessible unless you remove the cams - and removing the cam carrier is a bit of a task. Easy things first I would suggest. If that doesn't work consider replacing the tappets - BUT ONLY DO THIS if you are 100% convinced that this is tappet noise.

As you have the lifters out for cleaning you have the cam carrier off. Are all those oil pathways clear and unblocked?

One tappet is stuck and I also noticed that it is bit different. All others height is 26mm but that stucked one is 24mm. When I looked them from ebay all tappets are 24mm

htr said:

As you have the lifters out for cleaning you have the cam carrier off. Are all those oil pathways clear and unblocked?

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And was the correct sealer used for re-assemply?

Nodge68 said:

And was the correct sealer used for re-assemply?

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That's a good question, and sadly a very common mistake/bodge. The correct sealant is NOT silicone but an anaerobic sealant (available from Loctite - 574 IIRC)

rob_bell said:

That's a good question, and sadly a very common mistake/bodge. The correct sealant is NOT silicone but an anaerobic sealant (available from Loctite - 574 IIRC)

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Loctite 574 is the stuff. I always have a pump pot handy, just in case.

Me too - I have a pair of hotter cams to fit into the racing MGF, and another engine to strip down and rebuild for it

Actually, I might need to buy some more! LOL

Engine is now built and it runs quite nicely, just small tapping sound.
But it seems quite underpowered and idle is rough. Maybe timing isn't correct. Top is good but in crankshaft it is now adjuated as tdc and crank pulley mark are in line? Is that correct.

And i didn't use silicone.

The crank should be in the safe position (the crank pulley has a marker on it that should be pointing vertically upward - on the cam cover there are the timing marks for TDC etc, but also a separate marker for "safe" position when you're pulling off the cylinder head.

When the crank is in the safe position, the timing marks for both pulleys will either be pointing towards one another, or away from each over. When removing the cams, just note their relative position and put them back the same way.

Put the engine back into the safe position, and re-check the relative position of the cams to verify the cam timing.

Found this picture that illustrates how everything should line up:

rob_bell said:

Found this picture that illustrates how everything should line up:

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In my experience. The front pulley timing marks are never align accurately. Locking the crank in the safe position is much more likely to give correct cam timing.

I haven't tried it any other way to be honest. Happily this approach has worked well for me in the past

rob_bell said:

I haven't tried it any other way to be honest. Happily this approach has worked well for me in the past

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You're better to set the timing with the crank pulley off as there is a possibility of the pulley being a fraction out of alignment.
Third photo down.
https://www.the-t-bar.com/21-david-aiketgate-s-guides/26020-timing

Yeah I set timing to TDC and engine sound nice but was underpowered. I fixed timing so crank is pointin between cams and there is now power and idle is great BUT that tapping sound came back I can't understand how that is possible...

Are you sure it's not "pinking"?

what do you mean?