Noisey lifters

[tomwood_uk]

Hi gents,

I believe I'm having issues with ticking cam followers. The noise has been present from a cold start for a while, but now its more prominant when the engine warm after a good thrashing.

I'm considering replacing the set now, as the engine is approaching 100k (standard tune). Would you guys recommend replacing with genuine items, or pattern parts or going for an upgrade of some sort?

Just after a little advice from someone who's tackled this job before.

Kind regards,

Tom

[Pirvu Eugen]

strange...at 100k..the oem ones are good. I changed mines at 360k km.
What oil are you using?
As exchange i bought the INA lightweight ones....were ok for the last 30k km into my car till the engine has changed the owner....still ok though...but mileage unknown.
hope this helps!

[driftin jo]

As above, what oil are you using?
I had some cheap 5w 40 and mine
made loads of noise.
Changed to a quality 5w 40 oil
and no noise at all.

[tomwood_uk]

Silkolene Pro S, think It's called Titan Pro S now.

[twenty valve]

There are a few things that can cause this

as mentioned using the wrong oil. If you are running more than stock power or you really drive the car hard you can easily starve the head of oil. If your oil level is low then you'll almost always get a rattle after a hard kaneing session. The stock breather system can cause minor oil consumption under the same conditions which doesn't help either.

Having said all that, the pistons in the hydraulic lifters do fail. Replacing them is relatively easy if you have experience with engines etc. I've done them in less than an hour before. You could do them in 3-4 if you took your time and drank lots of tea.

[twenty valve]

Silkolene Pro S, think It's called Titan Pro S now.

indeed it is. I run this in my car and it seems to be okay. I get rattle problems which I've put down to the pick up pipe placement in the sump, and the lack of baffle plates.

A properly baffled sump is a must when running high power or doing track days etc. The oil with surge around the sump and starve the pick up under hard acceleration, cornering etc

[Rusty]

I have this problem and have had it in some form or another for quite a while. Topping the oil up usually fixes it but as the car uses a little oil, I'd guess due to worn valve stem seals, it does present itself every now and again.

[twenty valve]

I had a lifter on my S2 which would rattle if you ever touched the rev limiter, but then go quiet after a few minutes of normal driving, which obviously made it difficult to work out which one was at fault. I decided to provoke it when I was round the corner from my house on the way back from work. I pulled up in the garage with the rattle still there, whipped the cams out and found one lifter had gone squidgy. Replaced it and it was fine.

Remember its never a good idea to keep driving hard when you have a follower rattling as you're essentially getting very limited lift on the valve

[Ian Simmonds]

Its interesting is this, I changed our S2's oil to 10w 40 Castrol Magnetec after a decent flush and filter change in the summer (August), and it'll now tappet rattle cold for '30 seconds or so... If the oil drops below 75% to minimum on the dipstick, it 'might' rattle after a minute or so of idle on short runs.... Fine everywhere else. So kept it up the top and its fine after '30 sec on frosty mornings...

Is it a bad thing that the hydraulic lifters drain out/ isn't it a sign the oilways are clear?

[Donnie]

Might be wrong but isn't there a nrv in the head to stop oil from draining back.

[Avantus]

I also had one tappet that would start ticking after doing very high sustained rpm. Replaced with Schrick hardened/lighter lifters and problem gone.

[Pirvu Eugen]

Might be wrong but isn't there a nrv in the head to stop oil from draining back.

Indeed..there is an one way valve...witch should keep the head oil galleries filled with oil...but...still...is strange at this low mileage...

[caterpillar]

have the oilfilterhousing of; there are the bleedback walve( little in6 ) in a hole... check out theis little item...
some did have some problem with the oilflange and gasged from oilsump to oilpump( steel pipe with flange, screwed in the oilpump, but inside the oilsump...loose???)
use the org oilfilter... dont use nonorg filter...!!!
use deasent oilqualitet....
if not the rattle are still coming when cold.. check out the oil pressure...

[liggy]

i used to know a bloke called neil tippert, we all called him noisey tappet, best thing to quieten him down was a pizza
hope this helps

[Rusty]

No, that's not very helpful as you've not specified what flavour pizza is best to quieten him down