Tapping on top end

[si_from_earth]

I have had my 53 plate 172 for a couple of months now and don't drive it hard. I am paranoid about engine noise at the best of times but noticed yesterday that all of a sudden the top end of the engine sounds slightly rattly/tappety. It only has 29500 miles on the clock (with full service history) so should this be happening?..The last service was in Jan so I was wondering if I should get it serviced now rather than wait til next Jan. The car pulls fine with smooth delivery so I am not overly worried, however I went to overtake someone today and found myself holding back as it sounded rattly at 4k on the tacho.

Am I just been paranoid?
Would a full oil flush/change to fully syth help?

 

[gtruk]

cant really comment on the tapping noise as it could be many things.....usually tappets can be quite noisy when the engine is coldish but the noise SHOULD quieten down when the oil has warmed up and circulated around the engine.

Either way i had a corsa a while ago now back in 2002. I used a cheap oil from tesco and after a few 100 miles of using this crap oil i got a horrible tapping noise top end. I put it down to shitty oil and flushed it out and put some better stuff in there. Still had the noisey tappets when cold for year or so onwards while i owned the car, but never caused any problems.

From now on though i dont skimp out on paying for some good quality oil.