Advice sought abought rattly tappet

Post by **stuartrolfe** » 10 Mar 2007, 12:03

I know there are a couple of other recent posts about this but here goes anyhow...
it's a 1989 2.1 engine with 42,000km which used to have regular but brief usage (it was an ambulance). It was running absolutely perfect when I picked it up but has now been standing for some time. It now has a very noisy click (I assume tappet) which continues even when the engine has been running for 20 minutes or so?

Is this serious, will it lead to other problems or should I just live with the irritating noise?

How easy is it to fix? Can I just whip off the applicable rocker cover and do an adjustment. If so How? or is it necessary to replace the tappet and if so hw complex is this?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Post by **clartsonly** » 10 Mar 2007, 12:55

even the haynes manual says to expect rattles from the tappets, mine is sometime ok for months and then will do it for a while if it has been standing for a while.

Post by **kevtherev** » 10 Mar 2007, 16:40

take it for a good 20 mile run and it will quieten.

brief runs actualy make it worse

relax it's just your regular noisy tappet embarrasing maybe.....use it more!

T25's throw a strop if they are neglected

Post by **jed the spread** » 10 Mar 2007, 17:30

my 2.1 used to do it when i first bought it but after much use its gone away

jed

Post by **T'Onion** » 10 Mar 2007, 18:05

you could try changing the oil

Post by **clartsonly** » 10 Mar 2007, 19:31

ref changing the oil...

when I put decent shell helix into my volvo 740 it rattled really badly, as soon as I put cheap oil in the noise went away.

Post by **kevtherev** » 10 Mar 2007, 22:32

Duckhams 20/50

instant deafness

Post by **Dan Wood** » 11 Mar 2007, 07:33

If it doesn't go away, you might want to consider taking off the rocker cover and just checking that the rocker assembly hasn't come loose.

Somebody I know drove a few hundred miles trying to persuade their tappet to shut up, and eventually found they'd stripped the thread on one of the studs that holds the rockers in place!

Wonder who that was?

Post by **kevtherev** » 11 Mar 2007, 14:50

how long did you have to stand in the norty corner Dan?

Post by **Doodleboink** » 12 Mar 2007, 13:13

Dan Wood wrote:If it doesn't go away, you might want to consider taking off the rocker cover and just checking that the rocker assembly hasn't come loose.

Somebody I know drove a few hundred miles trying to persuade their tappet to shut up, and eventually found they'd stripped the thread on one of the studs that holds the rockers in place!

Wonder who that was?

Easy mishtake.

Post by **Dan Wood** » 12 Mar 2007, 16:24

kevtherev wrote:how long did you have to stand in the norty corner Dan?

Mr. Baxter was very kind about the whole thing. Mind you, I was paying!