Engine noise... Tappets, Cam belt...?

[mattoligy]

oh ok hallfords ok?

[Len]

you dont need the head off to change the tappets,  you need to lift the camshaft off the head and pull each tappet out from its bore.  Then drop in a new one.   The head stays where it is and you dont need valve spring compressors, the valves stay put. 

Its a simple job which can be done with a good socket set and little more.  It will envolve re-timing the camshaft etc and if you have done or know how to do a cambelt it shouldnt be a problem.  A haynes manual will be very usefull

I had heard this but wasnt sure how it was done so I stand corrected, thanks Rmachines!
 :embarassed:

[Rmachines]

Mabey your thinking of the valve guides or stem seels?  they are common to go on allot of engines.
Tappets on VW heads are nice and simple!   

[Len]

Oh yeah! Had to do stem seals on Mi16 and did tappets at same time! D'oh!

[mattoligy]

Ok gana go get some of that lifter treatment now and then see how it go's and post back lol

how long do you think i should give it?

Matt.

Edit: i got some from halfords, put it in, but only gone a few miles on it so far, seems to be louder lol, prob just me..

[Rmachines]

The trick we always used on the ford CVH engines was this....


First Put the treatment in
1. Warm engine up to temp.
2. bring engine revs to a steady 2500RPM for 1 min
3. raise engine revs to 4000RPM for 2 mins.
4. reduce revs to 3000RPM for 4/5 mins.
5. Go for a drive.

Providing you are happy its the lifters rather than the big end or somthing,  take it out for a good hard drive!  BEAT IT! get it up to 5000RPM+ a few times when the engines nice and warm. 
With any luck that will give the treatment a chance to budge any sludge trapped in there.

The first part is similar to what you do to bed in a camshaft, but we used to do it on the escorts, So many needed the tappets replacing because they wore down,  they tended to get sticky and need unsticking.

[mattoligy]

This may sound stupid and it's prob not but i will ask anyway cos the noise is so close to the spark plugs and sounds so external, If it were would it be the plugs themselfs or the leads?

[herbster]

Have you had the plugs out, are they the right ones, have you ran the engine in the dark, any cracks on the spark plug body will show up, also a quick test for the followers(tappets) is to take the rocker cover off, turn the cam with lobes up one cylinder at a time and get a slim flat screwdriver between the back of the cam and follower, twist the driver a bit and feel for a bit of slack, there should'nt be any slack it should feel nice and smooth and you should see the follower going up and down. check the bottom cover by the alt belt, its gets really close to the grommit/plug for the alt bolt, it really doesn't sound like a mechanical failure, more like a something coming around on a loop, if you count the beats of the tapping its more like tenth engine rpm as the crank/piston is going to be doing 6 taps a secound at 1500 rpm and its not that many, even the tappets/sparks will be 3 times per second as they are half engine speed, thus my thinking on something on the loop of a belt etc....

[Stu G]

this is interesting cos ive got the exact same problem. change the oil every3k still does it. still goes like a rocket though

[Rmachines]

I have had a noisy tappet for ages! well for the past 20k miles its been knocking and many people have warned me NOT to drive it because its about to blow lol,  It doesnt do any harm to speak of but it must be quite a common problem.  I would check for exhaust leaks aswell?   but tappets will come from the spark plug area.