Hi I've got an 1.4MPI as stated in my car description. Recently when the music is off in my car and I'm at low revs or Idling I can hear a ticking noise but it comes and goes even in the short time sat at a junction. On sunday I took the car out and noticed that when accelerating this noise seemed to be amplified by the induction kit sometimes it would be there sometimes car would sound normal. On my return journey the ticking seemed more constant and the induction noise more vocal, it sounded like it was running 3 cylinders. If however I rev above 3k rpm it all goes away. Also now when it makes the horrible noise car is very flat and if I put the clutch in revs a little erratic and also stalls regularly. Any Ideas Would be greatly appreciated.

Ps A week or 2 ago I was doing some maintanence and noticed the small breather pipe that runs from near the oil cap to I think the air intake was guey kind of perrished so I took it off and found it blocked so cleaned it and put it back on, ever since my EPC light has been on not sure if this is related maybe I should reblock the pipe.

Thanks for your time Iain

Hydraulic tappets are shot, possibly damage to camshaft as well. Rocker cover needs to come off for a top end inspection.

Would have thought any tappet even with a gap too wide, could not be heard much above tick-over speed, because of revolutions of engine speed.

Extreme clearance would involve a misfire on induction, with a backfire on exhaust??

If permanent damage has been done to internal parts, I believe sound would not disappear, then reappear at will

If any doubt ask at local garage to diagnose problem, they may carry-out compression test on cylinders, looking for valve leakage??ie burnt valve??

Finding out problem first I should think is the best move forward here.??

Good luck, please keep us all posted.

The first thing to do would be to get any fault codes read to find out why the electronic power control (EPC) light is on. It may benefit from a throttle body clean for the idling problem. Are you sure that it is valve noise rather than timing chain? the hydraulic lifters act directly on the camshaft, which is in the engine block, to remove them I think that the cylinder head needs to come off, there may be a removable cover on the block. There is some manual adjustment on the valve clearances, though this is used to initially set the clearances after overhaul/valve grinding.

I'd think the tappets are most likely sticky rather than FUBAR.

As Fordfan says, get the EPC light sorted first, then try using a flushing oil on it. Particularly if there's a gap in the service history or any suggestion that the correct VAG 500 series oils haven't been used at every oil change.

Thanks to all your replys.I think its tappet noise it sounds like all my other audis and vdubs have in the past and the general concensus of them was tappets, I just seem to cause cars to tick. Its got about 68k on the clock only part service history and I used halvoline 5/30 synthetic oil from morrisons last time. I will try oil flush and see If I cant find a garage that wont charge too much for vag-com check. The stalling thing only happened when faul noises started appearing. This skoda has been one of the worst cars I have ever bought in terms of niggly faults and some big ones. This and the leaking steering rack, may mean it gets driven off a bridge into a lava pit.

5/30 is a little thin for that engine, 10/40 would be better. The Fabia is quite good at developing niggly little faults, but it should not be unexpected on a car approaching 10 years old.

5/30 is a little thin for that engine, 10/40 would be better. The Fabia is quite good at developing niggly little faults, but it should not be unexpected on a car approaching 10 years old.

thanks I had looked about and it seemed that 5/30 was the correct oil to use. 10/40 is muc h cheaper DOH. while I expect niggles like sensors going and parts wearing out, door seals leaking even water pump gaskets crumbling all my pevious cars have beenof a similar age and none have had springs shatter at 55k miles they should go weak before they break and I would expect the steering rack to last a good 150k not half that.. I just think the vw group has gone downhill fast since the stopped the 5cylinder engines in petrol terms I still rate their diesels among the best i tink ford is a better company when it comes to reliability

i tink ford is a better company when it comes to reliability

Er no :rofl:

Er no :rofl:

I used to agree with you but ford have really improved over the last 10 years and I've been speking to a few breakdown recovery guys and they all say fords are the cars they get least to pick up and they get as many vw/audi as any other make maybe that partly due to the people who drive fords as aposed to audis i donk know but certainly my skoda was built on friday the 13 i think

Hi tried to drive car today first time since prob occurred and was tappety but not as bad and no misfire. drove to local parts shop bought wynnes tappet noise oily stuff and also their engine treatment was going to replace oil 10/40w anyway put in the engine treatment stuff and tappety noise much reduced if not gone completely. I will run for a while like this and see then replace oil with 10/40 put in tappet treatment oil and more engine treatment oil. Thanks a lot for your help and suggestions not feeling so negative about my skoda now. EPC light still on at the mo will need to look into this

drove it for a couple of days and light went off then drove it home hard one day to test it and light came back on ant tappety noise back so guessing having a weak or broken spring on tappet causing it to stick when warm

Ok Update had all fault codes cleared by a very helpfull fellow briskodian (Thanks <a href="../../user/817-domhnall/">domhnall</a>) none seemed to be related to tappets.Flushed and drained Oil to replace it with 10/40, Now have car jacked up (one side so can turn engine with wheel) with rockercover off. The tappets Have no broken springs but have massive clearance when not open like 0.7-0.9 mm varying but 1 has no clearance I am going to try and set them over the next week but not sure what to set them to. I'm still not totally sure if they are variable hydraulic or old school standard tappets. <br><br>At the moment I'm going on fordfans advice but was hoping someone could confirm the mpi engine definately has hydraulic lifters, the felicia clearences which my engine is based on seems to require the inlet tappets set to .25mm and exhaust tappets to 0.20mm. The order I was going to set them was valve 1 is open max set valve 8, 2 open set 7, 3 set 6 etc so it makes 9 when you add together, can anyone confirm if this is the correct procedure as its what I do to set my 1935 Austin 7.<br><br>When I was running the engine with oil flush in it I noticed when tappet noise gone engine idling around 1700 rpm (I had a weight on throttle holding it in a steady position) but when ticking a little about 1400rpm when ticking a loudly struggling to stay over 1000rpm and wavering quite a bit suggesting a sticking valve/lifter and missfire (like<span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn" href="../../user/10538-kenoneill/"> KenONeill</a> suggested). <br><br>The other option I thought could be the oil pump </span>pickup pipe/filter is blocked/ partialy blocked and not allowing enough oil to the top of the engine, stoping the (variable?) lifters to be set correctly. Any thoughts there or am I being stupid?<br>

Edited 14 June, 201016 yr by The Worm

Another update I took the sump off all nice and clean then took rocker cover off quite grubby and gungy so cleaned with petrol

especialy around the lifters. they are hydrolic i replaced the oil with 10/40 and adjusted a couple that seemed to have a larger gap. now engine sounds as it should thanks guys. I wish i hadnt taken the sump off as it now leaks so will have to do it again DOH but at least i know its all clean down there