Rattling & ticking?

[cookie79]

Has anyone experienced this...

Rebuilt my engine, done about 1000 miles mainly short journeys no more than say 25miles, all seems fine then took it down the M5 doing about 70/80mph, when I exited the M way & stopped at the lights the engine was ticking like mad sort of noisy tappet sound, but once I got going again along the road the noise disappears, the same thing happened again on the return journey home???
Plenty of oil in the car, because it's fine re rest of the time I'm a bit confused.

Anybody got any wisdom on the subject please.

[PeteG40]

Were the tappets new?

[cookie79]

Yes Pete they were new, I bought a set from yourself. Like I said engine sounds ok rest of the time, just seems to do it after a jaunt in the Mway, high speed 70/80 constant & steady. Tappets don't rattle on start up either, Ive read that injectors can be noisey?

[hayesey]

it's probably a sticking tappet, they should sort themselves out after they've been through a few heat cycles and got properly filled with oil.

[ereeiz]

Oil too thin?

I've had it on all my G's and found rather than caining it constantly and suddenly dropping to 0 or very low speeds 10-30 for example (in traffic when you get off the motorway) does it. Taking the last mile or two in the slow lane prevents it. Or an oil cooler that would always help!

[cookie79]

Thanks all for your help, anyone know of a idiots guide to fitting a oil cooler to a G?

[GR40]

Remove the oil filter, place the oil cooler plate, use a longer bolt (audi 1.6 engines have those if one is not included to the kit, but need shortening) and bolt it in place. Put the filter on the other end of the plate, connect your feed and return to the oil cooler and bolt the cooler somewhere where it will get airflow, fill with extra oil, done.

Hint: Fiat 1,4 GT and Opel 2.0 16V (c20xe) engine oil coolers can be used if you dont want to go for an aftermarket kit.

[cookie79]

I've been having a bit of a look regarding oil coolers, so looks like I require something called a sandwich plate, am i to assume that one with the same thread as the oil filter will be fine or should I look for something that is specific fit for polos? Also is a thermostatic sandwich plate the way to go?
The cooler itself I want pretty small so it fits nice, after a read on the forum it would seem that a " 13 row cooler" is the way to go, & from what I can tell as long as the fittings on the cooler are suitable to accept the pipes to the sandwich plate then I can use pretty much any cooler I can find a a reasonable price???

If I'm wrong then please stop me doing something stupid

Cheers

[GR40]

The sandwich plate has no threads on it, just has a straight hole in the middle. Its a matter of the plate being the same surface area as the filter/block it will have to go in between, there are specific ones for G40 engines but as I said before there are others that will just fit with no problems. The bolt that holds your filter in place is actually removable from the engine block. You need a longer bolt, long enough so that the sandwich plate can be placed between your filter and the block. The plate secures in place with a thin nut on the main bolt and then pressed by the filter when its in place. Thermostatic means that the oil cooler will be bypassed until the oil gets hot (I think over 90) and requires cooling, exactly like the thermostat on your water circuit. It's better to run one but not necessary, people complain that the engine runs too cold without one though. I think that 13 row refers to mocal kits, you could get a 10 row that is wider or thicker and would be bigger than a 13 row. Generally you don't want one that is too big cause it will cause your oil pressure to drop and that is gonna be equally harmful to the engine as overheating oil.

[PeteG40]

Tappets do calm down with a few miles but repeated ragging if it's tappy u might benefit from a cooler.

Id say deffo a thermostatic plate and probably just a small cooler.

[ereeiz]

What oil do you have in it out of interest?
Make/ brand, weight and type, e.g. Castrol GTX magnatec 10/40 semi-synthetic.

Also, do you know which ones tick? (all of them?). If you want to check, get it to the point of ticking, Make sure you have nothing dangling (long hair, lanyard, etc) and use a long extension/screwdriver/ rod/ something solid and straight you can put to your ear (stethoscope ideally!) then press the tip to the rocker cover, moving along to each tappet and listen for a second or two on each. It'll instantly become obvious which ones are ticking as it sounds about 10x louder when you get to one that does. May find it's only 1 or 2. If it's the lot then, yeah, check oil grade, etc and level and if they're ok then get a cooler on it!

[cookie79]

The oil I've used is Valvoline durablend 10w 40 sythetic blend, it's a reasonable thick viscosity. Is it a naff oil?
Come to think of it now you mention sticking tappets, when I rebuilt it the 1st tappet (the one closest to cambelt side) was a bit tight to remove compared to the others, what can I do about that?

When you say a small cooler the ones I've seen are about 330mm wide x 110mm high, is that small?

Thanks for all your suggestions

[ereeiz]

Someone feel free to correct me but VW advise 10/40 or 15/40 semi-synthetic don't they? Pretty sure I used to use 15/40. Then again, if you're tuning it you may want it to change. Can't remember the specific qualities of one oil over another anymore I'm afraid. There may be nothing wrong with the oil whatsoever, just perhaps the wrong engine to put it in
If it were me and I'd just bought your car (for example) I'd do the screwdriver stethoscope thing to see which ones are ticking. I'd then do an oil change to semi synthetic 10/40 and see what the difference is. I would keep the synthetic stuff though, no point wasting it if it turns out it is a tappy tappet. I'd also try 15/40 semi synthetic if it still ticked. This is me though, I do have a "different" way of finding results to most people (old oil is always useful for something so it's never wasted).

As for coolers, no experience of them personally but I would look at the flow rate, pressure etc. to make sure it matched the application. If it flows too slow then you will have high oil pressure on the incoming side of the cooler and low pressure on the output side. If the flow rate is too high then you'll have low pressure going in and low pressure coming out. Look about at kits "designed" or matched to G40's then start looking for individual components and make your own. Or buy second hand for about £75, new from about £100-150

[ereeiz]

[cookie79]

Thanks ereeiz sounds like sound advice, I need to drain the oil out soon anyway as I've got a leaky sump gasket & a windage tray I want to fit, so I'll experiment with a different grade.

Cheers