tappy engine from cold on valver

[Detail Chris]

Bit worried on how my valver taps when its cold. it is quite loud and sounds as if the engine is f****d! It stopsafter 3mins or so and sounds as sweet as a nut once warm. is this common? the engines done 73k, and i dont wanna be doing big end bearings on saturday!!!

Probably not f****d but can i help it? Wongy said that i should try a different oil but no one can give me a good sae rating for it (every one say something different!!) Also does every one use fully synthetic??

I am Currently running 10w40 castrol Magnatex (coz i borrowed it from work!)



Any help would be appreciated!

Chris

 

[pete bann]

best thing to do mate is leave your valver running for 10-15mins before you actually intend moving it. I know sometimes this will be a pain but it prolongs the life of the engine and my valver certainly runs a lot better this way. As for oil mate it HAS TO BE fully synthetic, personally i would use mobil 1 but your 10w40 castrol should be fine. BRUN is the main man when it comes to oil, theres been a lot of posts about this so run a search mate and there will be more information that you could possibly fathom!

Tapping noise could be your tappets?? not sure though mate without hearing the engine.

pete

 

[Paul16V]

Mine taps too from cold. THink its just the 16v engine. Once its warmed up its fine. I usually let mine tick over for a few minutes before I set off. Its just the oil has drained to the sump.

 

[T.Ferrino]

I get this on my williams, It started when the weather got cold. Not much to be concerned with if it only does it when cold. the reason it happens is when the oil is cold it is much thicker and the oil holes which supply oil to the tappets are small and can get parcially blocked, not enough oil gets through to totally lubricate the tappet untill it gets warmer and thinner a couple of minutes later.

 

[DanG]

I get this on my williams aswell... sounds crap on a cold start up.

I find it makes a crap exhaust note aswell until the cat has warmed up..

Its normal dont worry.

 

[Rajk]

just make sure you have topped up your oil regular, i found that it was more tappetty when freezing cold,(as t ferrino mentioned above), but keep those oil levels up. As we know valvers are oil eaters.

 

[jimbo9999]

yep got the same noise when cold also found exhaust to sound pants untill warm too.

jaimie

 

[Anders]

When you change your oil next time, whack in some Wynns engine flush to dissolve all the carbon build up and sticky globs of oil.

I never have this trouble even on the coldest of mornings.

 

[BRUN]

use a thinner (WHEN COLD !) oil then guys, get yourself some fully synthetic 5W-40

a guy on here uses the halfords stuff on his williams and its pushin 150k now !

i use Total Quartz 9000 5W-40 on my RT, and i used to get a bit of tappin before the oil got to the tappets, dont get it anymore with this stuff

and can i just say, once your up to temp, a 5W-40 will be almost identical in viscosity to a 10W-40, as they both are 40 rated !.......thats before anyone says "thats too thin dont use that !"...........yes its thinner than a 10W-40 but ONLY when cold, which is a good thing as it flows a lot faster to the tappets....

id recommend the Total stuff, or Silkolene Pro S, Mobil 1 is also good but its over priced....im sure the Halfords stuff is fine too and its only about £17 at the moment for 5L !!!

 

[Colin_S]

Nearly every valver that i have heard about have noisy tapets has had Magnatec in the car. I think there is a disagreement with Valvers and Magnatec or something

 

[Siggsy]

Mine does it when cold! i find a good way to stop it is to run the car for a few minuets then re-start it.....

im using Mobil 1 15W 50 should i change?? or as Winters nearly over just leave it how it is??

Siggsy

 

[BRUN]

Mobil 1 15W-50 is a good oil and in the summer its fine mate, i personally wont use it in the winter as i found it to be crap to be honest, Silkolenes 15W-50 is better if thats the grade you want to use...

no point re-startin the car ?...

if you have room, you could add some Mobil 1 0W-40, this should help depending on how much you can get it, just dont over fill..

 

[T.Ferrino]

I think in the manual it says to use 10w40 for both 16v and williams so I wouldnt put 15w40 mate, fine when its upto temp but most wear to an engine is on start up from cold so putting a slightly thicker oil in cant be a good thing.

As for putting thinner oil in I wouldnt because although its almost the same rating at higher tempretures, in the time the engine is warming up and everything is cold you will be using more oil than usual as the tollerances are greater and the oil is thinner, then when everything expands it doesnt matter so much. they use enough oil as it is without using thinner stuff , if you want to do something about your tappets then I agree with Anders, just add some wymms engine flush and let it idle for about 15-20 minutes before you change your oil- Thats what im going to do at my next service.

 

[BenR]

Brun is right.......using a 5w is fine in cold weather anda 15W in warmer weather, you ideally choose your oil depending on teh temp range you run in.

The 16V has hydraulic tappets which need oil presure to work, and for them to prime fully with cold thick oil talkes longer. thats all....

With fully synth oil, theya re so advanced that they virtually eliminate wear, whcih is why race motors are run in on mineral.

engine flush is poorly stuff....ergh......

oh, and 10W40 oil is super old technooligy, its a compramise, and has lots of polymers (VIs) in it.....i hate the grade!

 

[BRUN]

T.Ferrino.........as the oil warms up it gets thinner, so therefore even though the tolerances will get smaller, the oil will get thinner

if your car is using a lot of oil then some seal somewhere isnt sealing, i know my car isnt a 16v but mine hardly uses any oil at all...my mate Pauls 16v has done like 110k now and his hardly uses any at all either....

trust me, try 5W-40 and you will love it........if you really are scared of using it, and i dont know why because being thinner in the cold is the technical advantage of a fully synthetic oil over a semi/mineral (which is why most are 0W and 5W !!!).....then go onto http://www.a-pp.comwww.a-pp.com and buy some Silkolene Pro S in 10W-50