Are the 1.4mpi's quite tappity engies?

My mums 1.4 is quite bad for it. Sit there with it idling and you can hear its pretty bad. Its worse than my old 1.4 civic (fabia 2000W, civic 1996 N)

any idea how to stop it being so bad without having the tappets replaced?

Have you checked the oil level recently?

Kev

I find mine (1.4 MPI) is a little noisy for one minute or so after starting from cold, could maybe be a loose Cam chain.

If it's a hydraulic tappet engine (and I think it is), that's often the first sign that they are getting towards needing a service.

oil is fine (checked it and topped it up yesterday as im going to scotland tomorrow lol) Not sure about a service, it had the head gasket done not long ago and was serviced then i think.

Mine has been quite tappity over the past year. The problem has cleared up after oil changes. A mechanic at the Skoda dealer described the problem as a lazy tappit brought on my shorts drives. The oil isn't reaching optimium temp and with condensation is building up mayonaise that block the channels. He recommended a six monthly oil change and drving the hell out of it when I get the chance. Took the car for a good spin, dropped it into a local garage where they changed the oil and filter, took it out for another run and changed it again. Sounds very happy now. Though a friend has said that after the flush if the sump plate wasn't taken off there will still be some amount of crud at the bottom of the engine to be dragged back up again. If it behaves itself til the next service in December I'll be well happy.

Some people on other forums have had success with adding ATF (Automatic transmission fluid) about 100 miles before changing the oil. ATF has lots of detergents and that in it because of the precise workings of an auto box and seems to do a good job of sorting tappets out. I havent tried this myself, but is well documented on the internet..

Kev