Noisy Engine

[Nova_Tek]

1985 1.2 Carb. Done approx 93k miles original engine. Oil change was done about 4000miles ago. 10W40 Castrol in there at the moment.

Its failry quiet when starting from cold at idle i.e when the oil pressure is Max on guage. Seems to get noisier once its warmed up and sounds the noisiest when its hot at idle i.e when oil pressure is lower during idle.

The sound seems to be coming from the top half of the engine deffinately not big end noise. The noise can be described like a ticking but lower frequency cross between ticking/clucking noise.

Would this purely be Tappet noise or can it be something else? Would it mean the tappets are shot?

:thumb:

[Jon_nova1]

can you feel vibration from the noise when you put your hand on the rocker cover?

[N0V4_K1N9]

has to be worn tappets

[Nova_Tek]

can you feel vibration from the noise when you put your hand on the rocker cover?

Havent tired that matey but will give it a go.

[SRI crazy]

mite be the oil pressure is decreasing and the tappets are dropping a bit i had a similar problem with my 1600 astra

[Nova_Tek]

Could very well be. Will this do any damage to the engine or will it just be noisy?

[Lanky]

generally jus b noisy mate

[Nova_Tek]

can you feel vibration from the noise when you put your hand on the rocker cover?

Hi mate just to update I had a feel whilst the engine was running and apart from amost burning my hand I cant feel any vibrations through the cover, but the noise is there.

Is there any treatment that will help quieten it down a bit coz its getting to the point where its so loud i can clearly hear it inside the car. Especially when stuck in traffic idling. very embarrasing :(

[Jon_nova1]

yes, theres a supercharger treatment that also works as engine quitener lol

if its 1985 it would be manual choke, are you pushing the choke back in when the engine is warm?

[Nova_Tek]

Oh yes always check the choke, only have the choke on for less then 3 mins and then its fully down and I check whilst driving.

Wish I had the cash for a conversion :(

[Jon_nova1]

is it revving higher when its noisy though?

[Nova_Tek]

No the noise is most heard when idling. If out of gear and I rev then the noise speed increases.

But For example if im driving down the road with my window down I cant hear the noise as much just the normal sound of the engine pulling in gear, the noise seems to be reduced. When at standstill and crawling along in traffic the noise seems to be at its loudest.

I can try get a recording of the noise but I dont have anywhere I can host the file.

Im baffled, the only way to tell whats happening is to strip down the engine probably but I have neither the time or cash to do that. May have to try these so called treatments see if they do anything.

[Jon_nova1]

the only think i an think of then is either the oil pump is on its way out and not pumping the oil around properly, or the oil is too thin for the age of the car?

[Nova_Tek]

Well next service is coming up soon so I mite try another type of oil.

Im currently using Castrol GTX 10W40. I was looking to go for 5W40 or 0W40 Mobile1, I thought thinner oil when cold had better protection and the actual viscosity of the oil when hot wasnt much different.

[Jon_nova1]

thinner oil does offer better protection, come to think of it if its oil related if you take the cam housing cover off and run the engine, you should see oil spray out of the camshaft, out of the little holes in it

you could try this when the engines hot, but be advised, the oil will be very hot and will spray around, if your going to do this id suggest wearing thick gloves and putting a large piece of MDF over it then turning the engine off and seeing if theres spray on the wood

[Mikey_J]

Try using 15w40 castrol stuff. I used this in mine and it was amazing the difference it made. I would of thought 5w30 would be way too thin for a nova!

[Nova_Tek]

Well I have read in a couple places and halfords also recomends this as a higher grade oil, that the Nova engine and this goes for other vaux engines can use 5W40 0W40 oil as opposed to the 10W40 they use as standard.

I thought the 0W meant the cold viscosity of the oil which ment better flow during cold starts. I used to have 15W40 the previous oil change. used this after the car wasnt in use for a few years. Then moved to 10W40 and it was all good. But this noise has become more pronounced recently.

I still have about half a litre of 15W40 clean oil somewhere. Would it be ok to mix it with the 10W40 already in there? The Nova needs toping up every now and again so putting in some 15W40 may yield a result, if so I know what to use next oil change.

:thumb:

[SRI crazy]

try a racing spec oil coz the problem i had was when racing the oil broke down and got to thin to hold the tappets open and dropped then when it sat idling for a couple of mins it cooled the oil and pushed them up again and the noise went out lol

[mikey14sr]

There's nowt wrong with the oil you're using, the most likely cause is that the tappets and followers are getting nicely worn and could do with cleaning/replacing.

[Nova_Tek]

try a racing spec oil coz the problem i had was when racing the oil broke down and got to thin to hold the tappets open and dropped then when it sat idling for a couple of mins it cooled the oil and pushed them up again and the noise went out lol

Can you recommend a racinig spec oil? I doubt it will make much difference but I dont mind giving it a go.

What is the normal price for a good quality racing spec oil?


There's nowt wrong with the oil you're using, the most likely cause is that the tappets and followers are getting nicely worn and could do with cleaning/replacing.

This is probably most likely. I have never refurbished tappets so it would take a while to do this and the car is used everyday so for me to do it will probably take a good few days as i dont know what im doing, can you recommend any treatments that mite help? I dont think wynns hydraulic tappet cleaner is any use as I have used it before.

:thumb:

[Nova_Tek]

I think I have found the issue. Let the engine warm up after a good drive today got home and let it run while I went over the engine listening out, feeling for any rattles etc.

The tappets do tick a bit but I believe I have found the area at fault. It sounds most likely like rattly grinding Alternator bearings. Sounds very rough if you put your head right up against the alternator. If I lower my head towards the bottom pulley some rattle can be heard but I believe this to be sound bounced off the inner wing. Never known a pulley to grind.

So gonna change my alternator soon and my belt and if all is well it should shut it :D

[Jon_nova1]

that wouldn't explain why its only doing it when its warmed up? are you sure its not the water pump on the way out? i noticed mine was really grindy, and there was some play in the water pump pulley and you could move it side to side a little

[Nova_Tek]

It could be both the alternator and the water pump which would explain the warming up bit. Im gonna change the alternator first as I already have one ready to go in and its easier to do.

if there still is slight noise then its also the pump. but it could be that as the alternator spins if the bearings are dirty or dry unlubed then as it gets hotter it may grind more. Who knows but gonna find out soon i suppose.