engine ticking on idle

[leevrs180]

Hi guys

Is this normal sounds like a rattle from the plastic when inside the car but when lift the bonnet and removing engine cover you can hear it from top of block above/beside cylinder 1. I dont remember ever hearing it before, till about 2 weeks ago. This doesnt happen any other time even reving engine it doesnt speed up just goes silent

Thanks guys

[Lofty79]

sticky lifter maybe. What oil do you use?

[skoda1982]

where that big nut is. Its the fuel under presure about 150psi into injectors.

[Lofty79]

or this too of course

[Guest]

I suspect it's a valve lifter or noisey injector. Is the noise worse when cold?

[leevrs180]

Well is vag spec oil, cant remember what kind

The noise is about the same all the time from cold start up (after choke cutout) and resting on idle, to being driven for hours and resting in park.

Any way of trying to unstick the lifter if this is the case??

[Guest]

It's not possible to unstick a valve lifter. In fact, you will find it hard to identify which one it is exactly as there are 4 per cylinder and the noise travels. There is no easy way to check which one it is even if you take them out and inspect them. There will not normally be any outward sign as to which one is faulty. Normally all the valve lifters, or hydraulic tappets as they are called, are replaced in one go. They are only sold as a set usually because of the difficulty diagnosing a faulty unit. It's possible some debris is blocking the oil inlet hole on one of them but that is unlikely in my experience. However, it still may not be a hydraulic tappet. It may just be an injector suddenly becoming noisey. It happens. Best to let your dealer take a look, or rather, listen. It may not be anything at all to worry about on the other hand it may be a sign of something more erksome to come. Broken piston rings make a ticking sound and yet may appear to not cause any engine performance degradation to start with. I've also seen that many times although I think you would also be complaining about other things too if that was the case.

[Dean-]

Silly thought but on my old Astra I got this noise when I needed to fill up with oil.

[Phil-E]

Do cars have charcoal canisters on these days?

My Felicia had one that used to "tick" on idle.

Phil

[Lofty79]

aye i had one of these on a car before, bent my brain trying to find out what it was at the time

[Jabozuma]

Sounds like valves to me. It goes silent with revs as frequency increases and you cannot hear it.

Wouldn't it be smoking if it was an injector sticking?

[Guest]

It's not an injector sticking, that would cause a misfire. It's most likely a hydraulic tappet, and these often get worse once they start to become noisey. But injectors can become noisey making a ticking sound as they operate. This can be caused by the impedance of the injector changing value or the injector tip becoming very dirty. They can wear too. This can be a precursor to injector failure or it can mean nothing at all accept the injector is noisey! Either way I'd investigate because it's a VRs and they are not the best of engines for mechanical reliability. Of course, non of us has heard your engine and it may be nothing at all to be concerned about. Get it checked!

[leevrs180]

Well ive had the car for year and half so know the ticking the engine normally does,

Yea getting a dealer to look at it is a slight problem with finding time cloest is a ferry journey and 150mile drive. Gonna head over after new year ans get oil test done. Sadly arnold clark run the garage now.

The cars done 12,500 miles and used 13 litres of oil

[Jabozuma]

Can you try an independent local specilaist garage to have a look. This will not invalidate your warranty in any way.

[fabianoh5n1]

well mine ticks also since the day i got it .

[JerryT]

The cars done 12,500 miles and used 13 litres of oil

Now that is pretty excessive!!

[Jabozuma]

Dammit, I haven't spotted that one!

[leevrs180]

No ticking today confused now. The day i mentio it it buggers off lol

[Jabozuma]

Low oil can cause that as well...

[leevrs180]

Yea use to get that in a vectra i owned. I didnt put oil in the day, i did few days back when i heard it because thought it might be case.

The bloody car requires more looking after then the wife