Starting after storage

[Walrus]

Hi. Not used the van for a few weeks and when I went to start it, the battery had run down (not unexpected). Jump started fine but there was a loud 'ticking' from the engine left side (when viewed from the rear). Oil pressure & oil level are fine, it runs ok and the noise disappeared after a few minutes and hasn't come back. I'm guessing that as it had been standing the oil had drained to the sump and one of the tappets was making the noise and the oil took a while to re-circulate.

My question is: a) is there likely to be any damage caused by leaving it so long, and b) is there anything I can do to prevent it happening again?

[Aidan]

it's normal for a wbx, no damage will be done, it will come up to pressure quickly and stay up fine. These vans were designed to be daily drivers and used thus give little problems. Run it as often as you can, a 15 minute drive every week and all will be fine.

[Pepperami]

That's quite quick it usually takes about 10 miles for the tappets to sort themselves out. Mine never used to like being left a week between drives.

[Aidan]

it's a three year old genuine VW engine that's had regular oil and filter changes, when it happened to me a short drive to the shops and on restart all quiet again.
My current engine rattles for 1-2 seconds on start up in this weather