Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all,

Have had the dreaded noisy at startup. Took anegine out renewed hydraulic tappets and stripped heads, tubes etc..

All back in now and guess what.....still there if run on short journeys..

If taken for a run will clear the noise.

Could it be oil pump? or blocked oil ways that feed tappets or any other theories.......I am totally stumped

Hope someone can help.
Andy

how tight did you set the tappets ?

Hi mark,

Well, Haynes style first, 2 turns but since read from Boston Bob taht that was too much so now got them set to 1/2 turn.

Andy

aye , we've all done it , it may take a few miles to settle after your re-set them , keep us up to date

Short runs always make them rattle, so you may not cure it by going to all that trouble... sorry.. if you had taken it up the road for 30 mins it prob would have cleared...

oil... 15w40 or 15w50.. or if it persists then a 20w50... anything thinner will not help...

1/2 turn is correct... Haynes is wrong, but thats what VW even said for a long time...

Oil pump... only if the engine is very high miles and if the pump isnt gen vw... but you can do a pressure check easy......

I take it you bled the lifters before you put them in ?

Hi Mark,

No I didnt, I was under the assumption that when the engine pressure was up they would bleed themselves.


Will this make a difference..

Cheers.

Andy

You should have really , they are hydraulic after all ,
I'd set them to touch and then 1/2 turn and let the engine warm right up , it will be a tad noisy for a few days
They will fill up , dont worry

If you didnt fill them... thats a pain.. they will take ages to clear... surprised the engine is actually running.... very badly I suspect..
best procedure

Slacken off the adjusters so they are just touching / 0.1mm clearance, run it like this until quiet.. then do the 1/2 turn preload.

Mark,

Will I ever get rid of this problem, even with new lifters fitted. I have only had this problem from around 80,000 miles, until then all was well. The engine is at 92,000.

Cheers.

Andy

Stick with it , Do like Si and I have suggested.
You've done the hard part of replacing them

Did you change oil brand/weight at 80k??? or dare I ask and engine flush?

they really dont respond well to short trips.. running them for 10 mins isnt enough... when noisey 20-30 min run up the road is required...

Engine flush....yeh, just afew..

Had more oil changes in the last year than it has had since I owned it (13 years)....I have read a few of the posts about engine flush and gotta say that I have used it.

Hopefully the engine will get better.

Do you reckon with a long trip then dump oil right after could clear some of the S**t out.

Andy

AH... engine flush isnt such a good idea, but its too late... you prob cleaned out any gum that was keeping it quiet and by changing the oil lots it removed the rest.. only suggestion i can say is to use 20w 50 and take it for a run.. if the oil looks dirty aftet that then worth changing, but if it doesnt, waste of time.. also make sure you use a proper T25 oil filter NOT a golf one, the T25 oil filter is a lot bigger...

The DF engine has an 070 115 561 oil filter which is the same size as the golf, but with different valves inside. I think Too Many Toys was thinking this is a 2 litre with the 021 115 351A filter.

If the tappets don't quieten. I'd do an oil pressure check.

On the other hand, I'm going to run through the tappet adjustment again with you.

Make sure you have the tappets of the cylinder you are setting at TDC. The opposing tappets (other side of the engine) will be moving up and down when you turn the engine back and forth. Back the tappet off until you have free (unsprung) movement. You may be able to pull the top of the tappet back, but against a spring. Free movement means no resistance. Screw the tappet in so it touches the valve and then in 1 and 1/2 turns.

The reason I make such a thing about free movement is that people screw the tappet in until all the sprung movement is gone. Then, when the tappet fills, you get a horrendous noise (at best) and rocker, cam, or push rod damage at worse.

What you need to understand is that even after nearly 30 years experience of these tappets, I still hate starting engines up with them in. I often end up. Farting about and re-adjusting, even though I know that the noise will stop. It is called 'ring clenching'.

I can assure you that if you had filled them and left the engine for a while, you would still probably have had noise.