Worrying noise

[Jack4688]

Yep, smaller part that's broken off is missing a corner. Any hints for getting the cam cover back on without displacing the rubber seal? I'll get the sump off tomorrow maybe, it'll be dark before the cam cover is back on

[Fat Audi 80]

Well done, back on track.

[Jack4688]

Um... not exactly. If anything I've made it worse. Still a slight tappet noise on idle, hard to tell if it was just the engine's natural sound or not. Then this click every 2-3 seconds. When I turned it off this click became very high frequency. Turned it back on to see if I'd completely fecked the engine and it was hunting on idle....

I'll see what it's like in the cold light of day on my way to work tomorrow

[AndyP]

I had the same problem with the splash guard, this is where I found it!

[Jack4688]

is that the inside of the oil filter?

I know what's causing it to hunt at idle now, due to my incompetence my throttle body is only held down by two bolts. One hole needs a sheared bolt drilling out and the other needs a replacement bolt sourced.

I'm good at fixing cars me

[AndyP]

is that the inside of the oil filter?

Inside of the oil pickup

[Jack4688]

That click turned out to be the N75, cleaned it up and put it back in line.

The tappet noise seems to have died down a tad after removing the cracked splash guard but I think there's still a noise coming from the cam chain.

Upon arrival at work yesterday smoke started coming out from under the bonnet - either some oil splashed off when I was fiddling about and was getting burnt off or I did a great job of putting everything back together and was pi**ing out when under heavy load (in an attempt to provoke that noise again to see if it had disappeared).

I'd booked the car in to my mechanic next week anyway before I'd even started tinkering on Wednesday afternoon, until Tuesday I'm not driving it just in case I've properly fecked it

But I at least had fun dismantling my engine and having a good look at the camshafts And thanks for all your help chaps

[mike74]

There's probably a piece of that sheild lurking in the head somewhere, hopefully a good clean will sort her out

[Jack4688]

So it would appear there is slight wear to the cam sprockets and I'm lead to believe they are hard to come by - at least on their own rather than part of a camshaft. Anyway, worth investing in some for the near future?

I think the noise was mainly coming from that splash guard, I can't provoke the noise since getting rid of it - but it's probably just my car taking the pi** out of me and will re appear in a couple of weeks

[Jack4688]

That noise has come back

[Fat Audi 80]

Have you used engine flush and changed the oil yet?

[Jack4688]

Not yet, need to find the time to do it. In the mean time I'll be driving like an old man again

[irishs2]

Not yet, need to find the time to do it. In the mean time I'll be driving like an old man again

[Jack4688]

Found somewhere locally to get the filter, they'll be open tomorrow. Just need to get a drip tray, oil filter removal tool & some engine flush and then I'll be ready to try and mess this up

[Jack4688]

Oil changed, with a flush beforehand - two things I'll do differently next time will be a) get a better drip pan and b) have some saw dust at the ready

4.5L of Castrol Synthetic 5w-40 in and it doesn't sound great I'll admit, but need to wait a few days to see if this ticking comes back.

In general I think it's time this engine had a comprehensive going over (careful not to use the word rebuild) otherwise I'll constantly be wary of something else letting go and will be reluctant to get that remap!