merc 230te advice wanted please.

[gizmo]

hi,i have an 88 230te which sounds like a diesel on tickover. tickover is steady, no smoking and rattle goes around 2000rpm. rattles as revs decrease aswell. oil pressure is fine. any suggestions as to what causes this?? many thanks.

 

[TimN]

I guess that your vehicle has hydraulic tappets so your options could be
Worn tappets
Wear on the camshaft
Defective camchain tensioner
Wrong specification oil
Defective oil pressure release valve

It may be that just one tappet is at fault. They don't cost much so you could buy one and by a process of elimination work out which one is worn.

One test that I did on my previous vehicle was to remove all the spark plugs. This allowed the engine to be turned over quickly without starting. Remove the rocker cover. Then crank it over and watch for any obvious oil leakage which might indicate a defective component.

Have you change the oil recently. If the vehicle is high mileage then you could consider chaging the oil spec but I would spec to someone in the know first.

 

[DavidBlake]

Hi

It sounds like a loose chain, but the tappets are also a likely culprit. you can test them using the instructions in a Haynes manual.