Rediculously tappy, ticky, knocky engine. Don't think dephaser

[Cro]

Mine had just become a horrendous sounding mess recently, maybe I havn't noticed the noise gradually over time but im starting to hear the difference from outside the car.

Obviously I know the usual dephaser pulley answer, i've heard and change enough of them but this just sounds a bit more than that, using a screwdriver to my ear to pinpoint a bit more it sounds much more central than to one side like the dephaser.

The pulley is due to be changed soon with cams but I don't want to end up it being something else I could sort while im in there.

The noise also goes away with some revs / load and is a lot worse on idle which would be commonly the opposite of a dephaser pulley going i'd thought ?!?

Any ideas?

Is it possible to clean the lifters? and or followers/tappets whatever the bits on top of them are?

The fact its leaking a bit of oil, which I presume is through the rocker cover probably shouldn't be an associate symptom but just incase it jogs peoples thoughts.

Seems to be a lot better when cold, but when up to temp its much noisier

 

[Silent_Scone]

check your plugs fella, if they're all tight just wait it out till you get the dephaser out

 

[Cro]

Yeah tight as a ducks arse dude, first thing I checked because of something I found before.

I don't want to change the dephaser and still have it rattling, I remember bens woes when that happened to him. And if I can clean or replace something while the rocker is off i'd rather get it done at the same time

 

[Silent_Scone]

Ben? Ben172? I think he went to NWP & they thought it was tappets at first and it turned out to BE the dephaser lol It won't be lifters. get a vid up

 

[dr16]

I have an oil leak from the rocker cover gasket too, and also sounding rough / tappety both cold/hot. Having dephaser changed this week so hopefully this fixes it. Please update if you have any breakthroughs!