MK1 Fabia 2007 reg, 1.4 TDI 80 BHP, starting from cold I have a tappet noise until it's warmed up, usually takes about 3 miles to clear. Although a Skoda garage told me - when it was under warranty - that it would eventually clear itself, well it has not, it has been getting worse.

I used a Wynn's hydraulic tappet treatment which quietened it down a little but it has now returned.

You get the impression that oil is draining from the tappet which then takes 3 miles at very low revs to get back to normal, once it's warmed up everything seems fine.

What do the experts think could be the problem and whats the procedure to cure it.

Any help greatly appeciated.

DB.

Be worth taking the cam cover off and checking the condition of camshaft and buckets just in case. Then maybe checking PD injector basic settings on the roller arms.

Maybe its someting simple like poor or the wrong grade oil.

The oil is probably half ruined now with the addative you added.

For how cheap it is drop the oil and replace with the proper stuff from the dealer (which is reasonably priced in fairness).

Its going to cost you about £30 for that and a filter so just start there. If it doesnt fix it you have new oil, if it does your laughing.

Thanks for your inputs.

I always use Quantum oil & filter purchased from the dealer, at my last oil & filter change I added the Wynn's treatment and after 3000 miles I drained and refilled with new Quantum oil & new filter, but no change.

DB.

Thanks, I plan to remove the cam cover (with a cold engine) to investigate as advised, is it ok to let the engine run at idle with the cam cover removed to see if oil is, or is not, escaping from the hydraulic tappet. Is oil likely to spray everywhere ?

DB.

Think about what you just said...

Think about what you just said...

I have, but what are you saying, please explain.

DB.

it is possible to run the engine with the cam cover off yes, but I would strongly advise against it, the oil will spit little droplets out all over the engine bay but it won't spray out per se. Also beware touching anything, it's a well known fact that machines don't feel pain and there's lots of horrible moving parts in there which could chop your fingers clean off given half the opportunity! Although I promise you that you will not gain anything by taking off the cam cover whilst the engine is running, you won't be able to see the oil draining out because it will be from underneath the bucket anyhow

what you could do is this... With the engine off of course...Turn the engine over by hand using a spanner on the crank pulley till the cam lobe is facing away from the lifter, Try pushing down on the top of the hydraulic lifters with a blunt instrument like the shaft of a hammer or similar, using this method you can at least figure out which one is making the noise.. When you push the top of the follower there should be little or no movement (zero lash) put if one has a little bit of movement before you feel it come into contact with the top of the valve stem you an pretty much be sure that this is the faulty follower.. It is possible to strip down the hydraulic lifter assembly into their constituent components, it's made up of the main circular follower(bucket), the external piston which is retained by a close fitting c clip and sits in a recessed hole on. The underside of the bucket, a smaller internal piston which sits inside the external piston, and a miniture spring which forces the two pistons apart from one another, often the spring gets a bit sticky. in the past I've quite successfully stripped and rebuilt hydraulic lifters and soaked them in paint thinners overnight which cured them from being noisy.

Sadly it is a fairly difficult job to remove the hydraulic lifters from a pd diesel engine. Timing belt has to come off for starters which is beyond most people's capabilities anyway. If you decide to have a look inside there be careful not to damage the cam cover gasket, it may not be the case now but certainly in the past when I owned a polo 1.4tdi many years ago I found that the gasket cannot be bought separately and only comes with a brand new cam cover.

Teflontom, many thanks for your excellent info, some very useful logical tips to follow.

Far better than the previous 'I know it all' smug answer from Ad Lav.

Folk ask quetions because they don't know the answers, it's far better to say nothing than to give a non-descriptive, non-helpful smug comment.

DB.