03 1.8 Lx Petrol Noisey Engine

[stonk]

Hi

 

Citroen C5 03 reg 1.8 petrol 115k miles with full service history. Owned by me for about two months.

 

The engine has developed a quite loud tappety noise at the top. When I bought the car it was quite then after about a month it occurred once warm only but now it's there regardless of engine warmth.

 

I took it to a Citroen dealer and asked him (him being the service reception guy, not a technician) if they had hydraulic tappets and would this likely be the cause. He listened and replied that it probably is a loose spark plug as they have only once had this problem with this engine before and that was the cause.

 

I drove home and checked the spark plugs - all nice & tight. Any suggestions? It sounds like it's coming from under the rocker cover but it's certainly the top part of the engine.

 

I recorded the sound on my mobile and uploaded it for anyone who's interested - tinyurl.com/yu3n7j

 

Many thanks,

Steve

[Guest RTez]

Morning.

 

Have you got any further with this?

 

Just a thought, I had a car a while ago (Saxo) that had a noise very similar to that. It actually turned out to be the alternator that was loose. Although it sounded close to the top of the engine, it was actually just reverberating the sound to the top.

 

Try wiggling your alternator (obviously with the engine off) & see if it's loose.

 

Cheers,

 

Tez

[iannez]

the 1.8 engines use quite a lot of oil and normally need topping up between services. many go unchecked causing a lack of lubrication to the top end causing wear to cams etc. this is probably whats happened in your case.

[stonk]

Thanks both for your replies. The alt seems OK. I've had my ear to the end of a screwdriver and can confirm the noise is definatly coming from the top end. Must be the cams as iannez says.

 

So what are my choices? do I have the local garage replace them all (huge cost?) or can some sort of flush or additive help?

 

Appreciated.

Steve

[Randombloke]

So what are my choices? do I have the local garage replace them all (huge cost?) or can some sort of flush or additive help?

 

Have a look under the rocker cover (or what ever you remove to see the cams, if you can) and look to see if there is a badly scored cam lobe.

 

If as iannez says the engine has run low then it's very costly fix, but it may be that just one tappet has got its oil feed clogged and got lazy. It will be just this tappet that will be tired and the cam scored. It may be that the cam is not yet scored and the tappet can either be replaced or removed and soaked in paraffin then oiled up before re-installation.

 

I had a friend who used to remove the injectors, drain the oil and then turn the engine over on the starter with the engine filled with paraffin instead of oil. Risky. He would then drain the paraffin, run the engine briefly with flushing oil, then drain that and fill with proper oil. All very risky.

 

It used to be possible to get complete cam and followers kits for GM family 3? engines?

 

Have a look and see if it's possible to see a damaged cam lobe.

[stonk]

Thanks Randombloke.

 

The car has a full service history & as far as I know it hasn't been run low on oil. I'll remove the rocker cover and report back. :blink:

[stonk]

Well, here we are two years later :) and still no change. It taps away like a goodun. I have had the rocker cover off - no sign of any wear on the lobes but still am convinced that it's just a lazy tappet.

I had been quoted over £1000 to replace all the tappets as there's no way of knowing which one. The cars not wort it.

I've run it with the rocker cover off (messy) and have narrowed it down to a few. Does anyone know if it's possible to just pop the odd tappet out without making it a big deal?

 

Thanks