Dodgy oil pressure.

[Graham]

When i first got the car i complained to the garage that the tappets were tapping after a booting, so the garage done a service and used Quantum Synta Gold. The car was fine for about a thousand miles until they started tapping again. So i changed the tappets and flushed the engine at the same time re-filling with Mobil 1. The car was fine until about 8000 mile later the tapping started to return( I usually do my services every 8000 mile anyways). So i flushed again and put Synta gold in again and its been fine for about 1000 miles. Now my tappets are starting to tap again after a booting, could my oil pump be worn enough to cause this and lastly what are they like to change?
All answers will be much appreciated.
Graham

[Greg_S]

to do oil pump will have to do timing belt at same time so its a fairly involved job.

[Lee]

Where is the noise coming from? Unlikely to be tappets if you replaced them. Oil pumps click when they are worn.

I ran Synta Gold for nearly 2 years (35k miles) and never had anything click. My car has been thrashed for 137+K miles too. Service at Xmas is going to be Castrol RS though!

Could it be the cam chain that links the two camshafts? Have you removed the rocker cover to check for play. Still thinking about other options.

[S2 Ant]

mine does the same sometimes after having given it some stick for a while (from warm tho of course) tapps real bad!! Oil level is fine and is only a 3k old... i use semi synta 10-40... cos the fully synthetic was too thin...

was going to do another oil change, probably this weekend, see if it does it after that....

[Dr H]

Whats the pressure on the gauge?

I was running Synta Gold and usually got just under 2 bar a tick over when hot. Just put Castrol RS 10w60 and the pressure hasn't gone below 2.5 yet!

[S2 Ant]

I must have a dodgy oil pump.... Mine seems to go down to aroun 1.2bar once its up to temperature or hot..... NOT good i assume then....


Is the Oil pump a big job???

[porkkis]

1) remove the timing belt
2) remove oil pan
3) remove suction pipe inside the pan
4) remove the timing belt back cover plate
5) remove oil pump

Said in 30 secs, but work will probably take 5hrs

[S2 Ant]

Probably a good thing i need to get the timing belt done then.... get that done at the same time then by the sounds of it..... gonna get quite a bill for all this stuff tho by the sounds of it

[Lee]

Originally posted by S2 Ant
I must have a dodgy oil pump.... Mine seems to go down to aroun 1.2bar once its up to temperature or hot..... NOT good i assume then....


Is the Oil pump a big job???

Hmmm Mine never goes below about 2.2 bar with Synta gold. Can't be bad for the mileage then!

'bout 5 hours sounds reasonable but you and I already know that you will struggle just undoing one bolt somewhere for about 10 hours. Been there, done that, will be doing it again I'm sure!

[porkkis]

Originally posted by S2 Ant
Probably a good thing i need to get the timing belt done then.... get that done at the same time then by the sounds of it..... gonna get quite a bill for all this stuff tho by the sounds of it

If I were you, I'd firs take off the pressure relief valve and clean it and see it moves freely. It's bolted on using the temperature sensor in the oil pump.
Worth a try.

Too worn pump is very unlikely as it's only two gears and nothing more.

The suction pipe could also be damaged. The lowest part is rubber and becomes hard after years and could be broken or blocking the pipe. Step 2 to check.

[Dr H]

Originally posted by Lee
Hmmm Mine never goes below about 2.2 bar with Synta gold. Can't be bad for the mileage then!!

That's pretty good, mine was always above 2 bar when I bought it (no idea what oil was in) dropeed to about 2 bar with Synta and this summer (really hot) got as low as about 1.7 bar.

With RS its now min 2.5 bar but I guess lower outside temps help a tiny bit.

I expect yours will go up a little with RS.

[Lee]

Got the oil up to 120 C whilst trying to keep up with a chipped S3 on country roads I didn't know. My brakes saved my *** so many times that day but my oil never went below 2 bar. Must be healthier than I thought! I think it will be much higher pressure with the RS in there. The higher shear modulus of the oil at higher temperatures is a good thing for our engines (healthy or not)! Fumoto valve, RS oil & twin remote filter upgrade (if there's room), platinum plugs, konis, top mounts, cambelt, ancillary belts, K&N clean: it'll be a bumper Xmas for me motor and a busy one for me!!!

[porkkis]

Oil pump can also be tweaked to give more pressure. 2,5mm washer between the spring and the oil temp sender will give plenty of pressure.

[Doug_RS2]

Originally posted by porkkis
If I were you, I'd firs take off the pressure relief valve and clean it and see it moves freely. It's bolted on using the temperature sensor in the oil pump.

The suction pipe could also be damaged. The lowest part is rubber and becomes hard after years and could be broken or blocking the pipe. Step 2 to check.

Could someone point these 2 parts out please?

[S2 Ant]

was going to ask the same Doug....

Not actually done any work on the S2 before, apart from the brakes, which is hardly rocket science.... the whole engine bay etc looks v scary!!!