Hydraulic Lifter tapping away until warm...?

[mike65]

I have slight tapping sound in the last week which occures on a cold engine. Once warmed through its fine. Is this simply oil not flowing quickly enough? ie too thick? Or is it a worn spring?

All ideas welcomed!

Mike.

 

[merc engineer]

I have slight tapping sound in the last week which occures on a cold engine. Once warmed through its fine. Is this simply oil not flowing quickly enough? ie too thick? Or is it a worn spring?

All ideas welcomed!

Mike.

It is just a hydralic lifter not opening proparly...This is a common fault.Nothing to worry about.....A lot of mercs do that when ticking over.

 

[Mikesmerc]

Used to use fully synthetic in my 560 and she then developed noisey tappet/s Using the correct grade oil helped alot but didnt eliminate the cold startup tapping. Not very expensive parts, but labour is the killer.
Regards
Mike

 

[Retro]

Give GTX Magnatec a spin next time

 

[190]

it may even be a broken valve spring, you get the same noise as a worn lifter when the spring is broke.

 

[Ade]

Mike

The hydraulic lifters are easy to change and not too expensive (about £80 set) so if the tapping is excessive or annoying it could be an option to change them. Took me about 2 hours in total and made all the difference.

Ade

 

[G3maw]

I agree with Retro - I changed from Synthetic 5/40 to Magnatec 10/40 semi-syn and the symptom disappeared. Incidentally, you can save if you buy it as Castrol Constab PS from a local Oil Distributor (NOT HALFORDS) for £55.23 for 25 litres.

 

[mike65]

Cheers for the feedback, if its not mechanicaly critical then I'll leave well alone unles its gets worse, the noise is very minor. Might get some thinner oil once I've put the new valve cover on.

Mike.

 

[mjtray]

Mike,

I have a noisy lifter on my 300D and put some Wynns Hydraulic lifter fluid into the engine and it has made a difference. I have also changed to fully synthetic 5/40 and its also made it quieter, especially when the engine is started from cold.

As other have stated, its a fairly common problem on older/higher mileage Mercs.....by local independent says not to worry about it until the tick becomes really loud and is constantly there throughout the rev range.

 

[steve_k243]

Tappett noise

I had this and changed the oil , with 2 full flushings using the flushing oil from GSF. The crap the 2 flushings removed was incredible, the first was as black as the original oil I drained. This has stopped the noise and I get much better oil pressure at tickover now.

 

[shirubaby]

Mike

The hydraulic lifters are easy to change and not too expensive (about £80 set) so if the tapping is excessive or annoying it could be an option to change them. Took me about 2 hours in total and made all the difference.

Ade

Ade..changing the hydraulic lifters would require the rocker arms to come off, right? did you have to take the cam shaft off aswell? And did you replace the spacers along with the lifters?
I've got a 300ce straight-six and the haynes manual is a bit cryptic for a newbie.

 

[Bolide]

Cam

If you're removing the cam do it with great care. Even experts have been know to have cams snap on them



Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[shirubaby]

That's just it! I dont wanna remove the cam if I dont have to... So I take it wouldn't be a problem leaving the cam where it is?...will have to take a stab at it...

Why would the cam snap? it is that fragile...whats it made of?

Cheers for the advice...will update on progress soon

Shiru

 

[shirubaby]

This might do better as a new thread but let's tyr here;

Hiya,

I have a question about hydralic lifter noise. Most members know that old merc engines give out tappet noise when starting from cold. Common, nothing to worry about. BUT....
How about an intermittent tappet noise (when the engine is fully warmed up..). A tappet noise that starts and eventually goes away and starts again at irregular intervals - when idling and with engine at normal operating temperature (i.e. temp needle at 1/2).
I'm finding it difficult to diagnose the problem.
Can anybody advise me please?
Is this still the hydralic lifter problem or something else?
Any past experience and/or advise is greatly appreciated.

Shiru

 

[shirubaby]

urg...my spelling...shocking :cry:

 

[Unleashed]

shirubaby - quite possibly your timing chain tensioner is packing up. I'm changing mine tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes.
As far as I'm aware it's a fairly common problem on older Mercs, I know on the older 190s (like mine) the tensioner wasn't a great part so they upgraded them on later models.
Give that a look see.

 

[shirubaby]

HI,

Thanks for the advise, that's something to try out. BUt does this mean that the noise I'm hearing it maybe due to the timing chain rattling (a sound commonly mistaken as tappet noise).

OR

the timing chain being loose indirectly causing the valve train to chatter?

Shiru

 

[television]

;

,

. BUT....
How about an intermittent tappet noise (when the engine is fully warmed up..). A tappet noise that starts and eventually goes away and starts again at irregular intervals - when idling and with engine at normal operating temperature (i.e. temp needle at 1/2).
I'm finding it difficult to diagnose the problem.
Can anybody advise me please?
Is this still the hydralic lifter problem or something else?
Any past experience and/or advise is greatly appreciated.

Shiru[/QUOTE

When you can hear tappets sometimes at tickover it is nothing to worry about, its mainly that the oil presure at idle is insuficient to get oil up to the valve gear, this can start on high milage engines, don't worry about it.

Malcolm

 

[television]

HI,

Thanks for the advise, that's something to try out. BUt does this mean that the noise I'm hearing it maybe due to the timing chain rattling (a sound commonly mistaken as tappet noise).

OR

the timing chain being loose indirectly causing the valve train to chatter?

Shiru

Timing chain noise is very different to valve gear noise, once again it could be the oil presure at idle.
Timing chain noise will only come from the front of the engine.the easiest way to check is to hold a large wooden handled screwdriver with the handle in your ear, and put the blade on the timing case cover , it acts like a stethoscope
The timing will not cause the valve train to rattle.
When removing camshafts you must undo the pedistals nuts one turn at a time on each one, noting which ones are under presure from the open valves
Malcolm

 

[television]

Timing chain

If you want to see if your timing chain has stretched or worn, turn the engine clockwise and get the crankshaft pulley on TDC if you over shoot. wind the engine back a quarter of a turn and bring it up to TDC again . The timing marks on the camshaft should now be lined up. if the timing marks do not line up the camshaft has sretched and this will put the timing out. if it is less than !mm you could adjust the rail. But by the time you have the engine this far down you are better off replacing the chain and tensioner.

Malcolm