what's that tapping sound???

Hi folks

Recently purchased a 2003 Disco V8i.. and she's beautiful!! however, there's a tapping noise that comes from the engine whilst idling and when warm. The previous owner said that he recently had the hydraulic tappets replaced and the upper inlet manifold replaced last October. He didn't use genuine parts though. I guess that could make a difference. Also, if the work was carried out by the previous owners garage, could I, as he new owner, hassle them for not fixing it?

Any help on this one would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Snowy

well.

they do say only use genuine tappets.

or it has slipped liner. booooooo

does it run on naughty LPG?

cheers.

the garage entered into a contract with the previous owner so you cannot deal with them directly unfortunately.

the only person who can is the named person on the invoice for the work carried out.

Soz

Hiya

Spoke to the mechanic anyway, who said he'd put in genuine parts. Now told my garage to give it a comp check and oil pressure check. it's new tappets might not be getting the oil. So possibly an oil pump replacement?
The compression check should give info on a loose liner.. will let you know

Thanks Mr Noisy

Snowy

it wont be oil pump unless oil light is on ,it will be a tappet

any idea what oil might be in it?

When the problem first came up, the garage changed the oil and filter and they said they'd put in the right grade?

Snowy

right, i mean id probably be looking to fill with 10w40 or 15w40 in a serp engine.

i put 20w50 in my 3.5!

Do you suggest I simply change the grade? Don't know what you mean by serp engine?

S

sorry, serpentine, ie one multirib fan belt (as opposed to three V belts like on the older engines)

the serpentine engines had a better oil pump and could handle nthinner oil, although in my reckoning youre still sweet with a 15w40.

its unlikely that the oil grade is causing the problem absolutely, ie it should fill that tappet if you stick it on the motorway for half an hour, but then when you let it cool and restart it, it probably wont start tapping with a nice thick oil in but probably will with an oil thats too thin.

so it could be an option.

i mean mine is generally fine with the 20w50, sometimes when i start up i get lots of tapping, somehow all of the tappets have drained down (maybe this is because it gets moved around the garage so the oil gets squeezed out before oil pressure has a good chance to refill them) but most times its fine, also sometimes after say perhaps ive been bogging so its been on the redline for a few minutes i get a tapping when it comes back to tickover but this clears up once the oil has chance to refill.

if you only have 1 tap tap tap then you have one bad tappet, as such im guessing (now ive thought about it) that its not really an oil problem. thats not to say you cant try some thicker oil.

are you sure its just one tap?

New lifters with an old cam is no no. The cam and lifters wear to each other so it's more likely that each cam lobe is worn with a slight dome shape to it. This would very quickly wear away at your new lifters making them just like the ones that would have been in there before replacement.

I'm fairly sure it's one tappet. It's now started to knock on the when rpm goes up, so I'm thinking that the tsppet is bad and not the oil. They're only 4 months old though and confirmed now as non-genuine. Will get back to you when I've got results from the comp and oil pressure tests.

Thanks for all your help, you've got me thinking...

A knock now not a tap you say, have you checked to see its not your cats making the knocking/tapping sound?

If you remover the rocker covers and can put a dot off white paint on each push rod then run the engine you'll be able to see if they are all rotating nicely. A tappin lifter could well e stuck and not rotating.

Firstly I'd I'd flush it and change oil and filter with quality oil and genuine filter!

I'm not a fan of engine flush...can loosen the crud that's sitting happily doing nothing in the edges of the heads and then get into he tappets. Did this myself and it made it worse. But definitely do and oil change and use something like a 15/50, valvoline do one and my oil pressure seems very stable with it.

Here's a link on yotube of the engine running..

P1000067.MOV - YouTube

..hope it helps

..here's a link to a video of the engine running

P1000067.MOV - YouTube

..hope it helps

Definatly sound like a tappet!

That's what we thought.. So, we've ordered some genuine tappets, bung 'em in tomorrow and see what happens. Well worth considering swapping the camshaft too, if what you said about wear is a definate? Will I end up with the same grief, six months down the line?

S

I think that's the best idea, wasn't me that mentioned the cam but also a good idea.
When I stripped my V8 I replaced both the tappets and cam at the same time and make sure you use a geniune valley gasket, I got a chepo and it leaked like a sieve so replaced it with a genuine one and now have a leak free V8 (not for long I bet).
Oh and as said before a decent quality oil!