Noisy Tappets ???

[Rich_s]

I have had a rattling noise coming from the top of my engine ever since i have had it and after 20k miles its getting annoying.

I have tried and checked everything and nothing makes any difference, the tappets are set at 9thou as there is a slight recess in the rocker face but not much at all. the noise doesnt change with engine load only speed and is def coming from the middle of the rocker box, cant see what else it could be,

any ideas? or anyone near J10 of the M42 with a click adjust i can borrow to double check the gaps?

thanks
rich

[GT6 M]

Hi Rich, maybe cam / followers, but try this fust.

With engine running, bung a 4 thou feeler in all rockers.
If noise goes away, then its the rockers.

pull it aboot,so as it no in same spot.

just cos ye set em at 9 thou, dont mean they are actually set at 9 thou.
lots of play in diff things,  and also hoo hard ye push doon on the adjuster end.
and how many times the engines turned over when setting em,

So try a thicker feeler when engines running,
good luck, an report back yer findings

M

[Rich_s]

Thanks Marcus i'll give it a go,

is it ok to run the engine without the rocker box on then or is oil going to go everywhere? never tried that before.

i set them at nine to try and take up some of the wear, think i read somewhere to set them at say 5thou, then work out how many turns out to get it to 15thou then do them up to nothing and back off that amount of turns, not sure i could measure it accurately enough though.

will hopefully get enough time to try this over the weekend.

ta
rich

[Nick Moore]

You can run the engine without the cover, and yes, oil will go everywhere. Well, a bit of oil anyway - it's not too bad, but it'll be best to wear your gardening clothes :)

Other sources of noise are a worn rocker shaft, worn rockers, dished tappets or even the pushrods hitting the inside of the head. The last would usually result from fitting non-standard rockers or a head skim without fitting shims under the pedestals, and is pretty unlikely.

My vote would be for wear in the shaft or rockers.

[Nick Jones]

Does it have a standard cam as far as you know?  Some aftermarket cams are very noisy.  I had a piper 270/2 assymetric profile in my 1500 Herald years ago at that sounded tappety whatever I did.  Went like the clappers though.....

Nick

[Dannyb]

I used a click adjuster on mine. Made a lot of diffence

[FGRob]

I had the same problem with my rockers, I had renewed the rocker shaft as the original was worn, the rockers themselves did not seem that bad, but in the end, due to continually having to re-set due to noise I stripped the rocker assembly down which showed a lot of play between the rocker and shaft and also ridges in the tappet end.

I decided in the end to replace the shaft with a tuffrided shaft and put in a set of roller rockers as buying replacement rockers (coming from India) was not a consideration as they are not as good a quality as the original parts, plus I renewed the ball adjuster and push rod - in otherwords everything.

Since then the engine sounds like a swiss watch with no adjusting. Expensive I Know, well I say that but when you consider how much Jigsaw charge for their rockers it's still a cheap option.

This solution is not everyones cup of tea, but for me it was the right one, plus I get the added advanged of a bit more lift on the valve as the ration is higher than standard.

I have my old (newish) shaft which should fit yours as my engine is a late 1300cc, no real marks on it, you can have it for the cost of postage.

Rob.

[GT6 M]

When I changed to a set of rollers, I was amazed just hoo quiet the engine went..
And further to Nicks bit aboot after market cams,
the Last non OE cam, even with the rollers on, was v v noisy.


Rich, there will be awee bit of oil splash, but no that much.
put some rags or the like aboot   to catch it.
OR  a good chance  to Gunk yer engine doon afterwards.!!!

As for set,n the gaps, actually not as simple as it sounds,if no familiar to its quirks.

1,  set gaps to 10thou, nip up adjuster, gap  ends up bigger by 2 thou ish

2,  finally get gaps right, and turn engine over to re check, and gaps are bigger agen.
reason, oil has gone frae the cam bearings, vlave tops, rockes, push rods, shaft ect, and this
loss of oil film,will affect the gaps. ....never noticed,!!

3,  gaps will alter, depending on hoo much ye push doon on the adjuster.

4, some cams can give diff readings when supposed to be  near  setting point
IE, not directly  at base of cam. a little either side can alter the settings ye get { my last cam }


BUTT, once ye got to no the little tweeks its really is simples.

M

[Rich_s]

Thanks all,

As far as i know the engine is completely std with original parts still, rocker faces have been filed down, taking car not to upset profile or the bit which touches the valve.

most tappets do seem ok but some always seem reluctant to be set right, i'll have a play 2moro and try to see ifleaving a feeler gauge in them makes a difference, then just a case of setting them right hopefully.

will report back what happens if anything.  

A bit of oil wont matter much as the car is a work horse so engine is oily and gunky but it works and stops any rust ;D

thanks
rich

[Rich_s]

hhhhmmmmmmmmmm well i found the problem, user error again! ;D

I thought before i get oil everywhere i will go over the clearances again and just make sure they are all at 9thou, 3 of them werent so have set them and checked all of them again and much better now, lesson for next time is do the job properly to start with hehehehe

thanks all
rich

[GT6 M]

932 wrote:

hhhhmmmmmmmmmm well i found the problem, user error again! ;D

I thought before i get oil everywhere i will go over the clearances again and just make sure they are all at 9thou, 3 of them werent so have set them and checked all of them again and much better now, lesson for next time is do the job properly to start with hehehehe

thanks all
rich

Ahhh, BUTTT, that could be good news, BUTTTTTTT, could also be bad news too.

If set ok 1 st time, but got bigger noo, dont mean that it was set wrong,
could be that either Cam, or followers are wearing away,  or both.!!

if it gets noisey agen, an its the same ,ns then its cam or followers.

a way to check, is measure VL  see if they all the same or v v near.

M

[Rich_s]

i did think about that, seem to remember a few of them, maybe these 3 have always been odd, they are set the same as the others but the noise they make is different when move manually and they seem to visibly move more, so paid more attention and pushed down hard on the adjuster to measure and thats when found they were more like 12 thou not 9.

i'll make a nope of them and see if they get worse or not, think it was 2 inlets and one exhaust one.

have to ask what is VL?  been around engines all my life but never heard the acronym VL :)

thanks again
rich

[LED Brown]

AH! HA! Vertical length? Am I right? Is there a prize? :K)

[GT6 M]

Nope, only prize is a  Pointy hat wid a  D onit,
and a trip tu,t  back of class, ;) ;)

try again

M

[Sheepy]

Can I play! Can I play!

Is it valve lift!  ;)

[GT6 M]

(clap)(clap)

M

[Rich_s]

aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that makes sense :D

have tried to do that in the past (didnt know it was called VL ;D)  i have a digital dial gauge but no way to mount it over the valves, may have to try again and see if i can do, would make setting the clearances, or at checking them a lot more accurate !

thanks
rich

[Sheepy]

Rich,
It's easiest to use a magnetic clamp for the dial gauge! You can mount it anywhere then!

[sparky_spit]

Hi Rich, I had one valve/tappet that needed adjusting every few months in the old 1500 engine.  When I stripped it for rebuild, the No. 2 inlet camshaft lobe and follower looked like this:


PS - have you painted that hardtop yet?   ;)

[Rich_s]

oooooooo thats not looking very healthy! hope mine is nothing that bad as need it for work everyday so cant be taking it off the road yet!

not been doing many miles fore last few years so not sure how long it is between times when need adjusting but will make a note and see how it goes.

I sure have, got it painted just over a year ago, not got the insides sorted yet though as still deciding what to do with it, thank again for that Mike :)

rich