Tappet sound from head

[s2_southwest]

Over the last few days there has been a louder tappet kinda sound from the head but it sounds more (louder/positive) than tappets. There is plenty of oil in the sump and good oil pressure both cold and hot. I had a similar sound when i had an oil leak before and that happened due to a low oil level. With the engine running tonight i topped up the engine a little more with oil and the noise seems to quieten.

Drove the car until it was hot and sat at idle and the noise was there but was not as loud as it had been earlier in the day. Is it possible for the head to become starved of oil? i know there are lots of oil ways between the head and block so i cant really see how that could be possible. Not having taken off an s2 head before i dont know 'exactly' how they work but do in principle. Can anyone shed any advice/suggestions/previous experience?!

many thank yous

Merry christmas to one and all!

Matt

[S-Express]

Get a large screw driver and put the handle to your ear and the sharp end on the engine at various points - this will allow you to hear whats going on inside much better. That way, you should be able to pretty accurately tell exaclty where the noise is coming from - will narrow things down a bit.

[s2_southwest]

yeah i would have done that but it was pissing down with rain so didnt want to stand around getting wet but i will give that a go had to do that a while ago to find out a different noise was coming from the power steering pump lol damn cars

[Acidburn]

What oil are you running in it?

My friend has this problem with his 20v as he put 10w-40 in it.

I've recently changed to silkolene pro 10w50 lovely car runs cooler etc.

[s2_southwest]

Thats the oil im using acidburn. its expensive but as the oil is not petroleum based like most oils on the market it doesnt eat through the turbo oil seals and burn blue smoke out the exhaust. its awesome oil. super on turbos. so i dont think its an actual oil type problem but either oil starvation or a ****ed cam bearing. i can see the head coming off

Anyone got a low mileage one i can bang on?

[Acidburn]

I only had it changed yesterday but done around 300 miles since last night and all's been good found I could sit in traffic with the fan on 1 and the temp would not go up

[catgroom]

.

I had the recent privelege of buying some Royal Purple Oil for my engine,at USA prices.Thanks Cullam3n!

I can say the same as Pete,engine runs much cooler.

My fan is also at Position one.Not owning an S2,the same cannot be said about my position on the roadgrid,given that I have a 2.6!;-)

Unfortunately this stuff is like £70 for 6 litres,nice to have some to top up with.

Steve

[spink]

If your oil pick up pipe is anything like the one i found on one of my blocks the other day that may be the your problem.Swarf and general skank.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/spogger/SNC10048.jpg

[s2_southwest]

Christ, where did that swarf come from? thats some serious metal grinding. its certainly an option. can you get to that by just taking the sump off?

[spink]

yes well worth cleaning out,apparently its something thats reasonably common.I reckon its drilling swarf from when the head was made,even without the swarf there was a lot of gunge inside it.If you do it, replace the little washer around where the pick up pipe joins the oil pump.You need 2 sump gaskets by the way,about £27 quid,get them from vagparts as my local parts shop wanted £25 each! for a shat make.

[s2_southwest]

ok cool, i will certainly investigate that route if i dont find anything else soon

[PeteRR]

Are you sure the tick isn't from the injectors (done many short runs recently?) or even from a crack in the exhaust manifold? Just to eliminate every possibility before lifting the head.

[Knight Rider S4]

This will be the classic dizzy gear problem since you have a 3B i see ...would put money on it!

[s2_southwest]

whats this classic dizzy gear problem? not heard of it

[gnutz2]

Are you sure the tick isn't from the injectors (done many short runs recently?) or even from a crack in the exhaust manifold? Just to eliminate every possibility before lifting the head.

I agree manifold leaks are very good at mimicking a noisy tappet and i would not rule out injectors