Club 80-90 Forums

I’ve been recommended to replace my hydraulic tappets at a fair whack! It’s only a slight tap and a little rattle on the exhaust. Around £250 all in.
Does this sound reasonable and is it absolutely necessary immediately or can it wait a while?
Advice welcomed?

Cheers

What engine? No..let me guess...iveco?

max and caddy wrote:What engine? No..let me guess...iveco?

no... wankel rotary


seriously though , it will help if we know what engine it is... guessing a 1.9 DG ? if so its very common that even after a few days of none use, the oil drains out of the tappets and then sounds like a tin can filled with ball bearings... a good run usually quietens it down,

what oil are you using ? fully synthetic oil is known to make things worse. worth trying some cheap mineral oil and a decent filter before spending money on new hydrolyic tappets .

Tappets in a wankelerer? Nope, must be something more mainstream..

its 1900>2100cc water-cooled DJ.

Is this what your after?

Sorry was meant to say, yes some decent synthetic oil. I have a small oil leak, need to replace the oil filler pipe (which probably doesnt help).

Ive just had the filter replaced and im off on a run this weekend, so will check after that.

Cheers

yes thats the info we needed.

Have a search on here for posts about the best oil to use... the general consensus is still that mineral oil changed regularly is the best oil to use... there is a growing group of people that swear by synthetic .

Those who still use the mineral oil say that synthetic is too thin and thus leaks out of gaskets far too easily , another thought is that it also leaks out of the hydraulic tappets much quicker causing the horrendous sounding noise that I described earlier.

Its upto you , have a read and make your choice on what oil to use.

If this doesnt work - a replacement is necessary then?

Was THE quote i mentioned reasonable?
Cheers

it's unlikely the tappets need replacing just an oil change and a drive - I've gone fully synth 5w/40 Platinum from VW or same spec from elsewhere and it works a treat on mine - if the tappets did need doing chances the rest of the engine would also need a rebuild.
Mann 719/12 filter and some fresh oil and a drive of 30 miles round trip, pick a nice pub 15 miles away go for a pint, come home

As Aidan said, best to try new oil and filter first or at least a run to see if it clears.... Not ever known many people to have to change them so cant really comment on how much they cost.

I have read one post over on the Brickyard about a guy who did replace his but used cheap copy ones.... did the job twice in the end

From what I have read, its not a case of just putting them in and hoping, they need to be adjusted as per VW recommendations .

As per your original question, no its not a job that sounds urgent . As long as it is a just tappet noise .

Cheers for all the advice.

New oil and a good run and as you have said, it clears after about 10 mins.

Re: the cost, at retail prices the tappets account for 160, so that only leaves 90 for pushrod tubes, water jacket/head seals and the labour...

So it's either cheap materials or cutting corners. As we all know, pulling the heads on a wbx can be a tricky business. Enough said?