Hi All,

 

Newbie here, I bought my wife a 56 plate 1.4 16V Fabia yesterday from a private seller. Perhaps I shouldn't have as it has a rattling noise when under acceleration. It disappears immediately you take your foot off the gas. Worse when cold but doesn't completely disappear when warm. Get above 50mph & you can't really hear it.

 

I should add that the car has stood for approximately a year only doing 50 miles in a year. The person I bought it off seemed genuine enough & said they had taken it to a garage to get the MOT & they had just changed the oil & filter stating it needed a good run to stop the noise, well I did 200 miles today, the noise has quietened down (but the car has not been allowed to cool down fully) so the noise may come back in the morning.

 

I'm handy with spanners having rebuilt a gearbox, changed cambelts etc on previous cars but don't know where to go with this. Have I wasted my cash? I'm hoping someone will reply with replace part x (where part x is not the engine!)

 

Any help appreciated!

While looking at this I noticed that if I remove the oil filler cap the engine revs change. Is this normal!!!?

 

Should also add car has only done 44000 miles.........

 

You have a noisy hydraulic lifter, it's really nothing to worry about, it's a result of the lack of use and will quieten.

1 minute ago, sepulchrave said:

You have a noisy hydraulic lifter, it's really nothing to worry about, it's a result of the lack of use and will quieten.

It was bloody noisy to start with, has quietened down though but how much noise is normal!!!!!!?

 

25 minutes ago, Zebedee2001 said:

While looking at this I noticed that if I remove the oil filler cap the engine revs change. Is this normal!!!?

 

Yes. If the engine is in decent condition and the PCV system is working correctly, the cap should actually be pulled back down as you try to lift it away.

 

Is it a 100bhp or 75bhp engine, if the former, it probably needs super-unleaded to run best.

 

Does the oil on the dipstick support the story of a recent change?

75 bhp engine, oil looks good. There is a pipe at the back left of the airbox cover thing that doesn't fit that well which seems to be sucking (i.e. a vaccuum) & the right hand pipe doesn't seem to be doing anything much. 

 

P.S. thanks for the replies so far!

 

Left and right as you look into the engine bay?

Is it a BKY engine code?

14 minutes ago, Zebedee2001 said:

It was bloody noisy to start with, has quietened down though but how much noise is normal!!!!!!?

 

 

Imagine a mouse with a big hammer tapping the engine at idle. That's normal.

Mine did it for the 50k I owned it, it's still going strong.

And mine (BBY, 75 bhp, 135k) is so quiet that you can barely tell its running at idle. That's my normal.

Edited 27 January, 20197 yr by Wino

15 minutes ago, Wino said:

Left and right as you look into the engine bay?

Is it a BKY engine code?

Yep as looking into the engine bay. Not sure of Engine code to be honest. It's cold & windy outside but looking at BKY engine pics on web it looks like it is!

 

Yeah I think it must be. So the right hand pipe from the airbox goes to the top of the cam/rocker cover, yeah? Where does the left one go?

My brief look at ebay photos hasn't clued me in yet.  BBY only has the one.

1 minute ago, Wino said:

Yeah I think it must be. So the right hand pipe from the airbox goes to the top of the cam/rocker cover, yeah? Where does the left one go?

My brief look at ebay photos hasn't clued me in yet.  BBY only has the one.

Left hand pipe joins into a T from emory & heads off back into the rear of the engine on the right hand side (when viewed from the front of the car), not sure where it goes to on the left!

 

I'll look forward to learning from you on that.

18 minutes ago, Zebedee2001 said:

Not sure of Engine code to be honest. It's cold & windy outside but looking at BKY engine pics on web it looks like it is!

 

 

Engine code is in the front of the service book if you have it.

3 hours ago, Wino said:

And mine (BBY, 75 bhp, 135k) is so quiet that you can barely tell its running at idle. That's my normal.

 

...which is unusual for this engine design.

Irrespective of engine code they're almost mechanically identical.

 

@Zebedee2001 I'm wondering whether your extra airbox pipe may have something to do with it being an automatic.  When I look at images of the part number for your airbox (036129607 DS) I see the LH connection spigot, but haven't managed to spot one on the slightly different part number for non-autos with the BKY code (ending DR).

Just one other question, do you know what "pinking" sounds like, and if so, is that the noise that you are hearing as you said it only makes that noise "on" throttle?

 

If it is that, it will possibly be due to too much oil getting past the oil separator assembly, that will also show up in time as the car using oil, one way to reduce/stop that pinking, if that is what it turns out to be, is to scatter some cash and fill the tank up with maybe Shell UL+ and see if that reduces/stops the pinking.

 

Though making sure all pipework is sealed/terminated must be your first task.

Hokey Dokey. Here goes. It is a BKY engine. Had a look where the mysterious pipe goes & it is T'd into the pipe that goes to the master cylinder & then heads off into the back of the engine gearbox side. I found out why it was loose. There is a rubber adaptoe that had been pushed too far up the spigot on the airfilter. Once removed & refitted to the pipe it was a snug fit. No effect on rattle but might improve brake performance!!!

 

Pics attached of pipe for reference.

 

As for the rattle I got a work colleague to drive the car around the block. He is a car nut, built his own kit cars & is currently rebuilding a TVR wedge. He thinks it is definitely top end related & may well be tappet related or small end bearing related. He suggested I get my stephoscope out and have a listen. Another work colleague who is also a classic car nut did suggest pinking. As stated the car has had virtually no use for a year & even before then on very short journeys. I also wondered whether the 1/4 of a tank of fuel that was in it may have gone off. This has all gone now as I ran it down to 30 miles of fuel left & filled up to 2/3 full. The plugs look OK (pic attached).

 

I also wonder what oil was put in the other day & whether it was too thick! I see you can get Wynns Hydraulic Valve Lifter Treatment 325 ml, is this worth a try?

 

Thanks for all the help so far!

 

Do you mind if I save and edit your top photo to clarify some things?

1 minute ago, Wino said:

Do you mind if I save and edit your top photo to clarify some things?

That's fine, It's not a good pic as it looks like there is a join where there isn't. The pipe at the very back is not connected to the pipe in front of it

So pipe A, strapped to the firewall isn't involved, but pipe B is T'ed into the Airbox pipe just next to the airbox fitting, and at its other end into the brake servo vac hose?

 

Where does the airbox pipe go to in the direction of my red arrow? I think pipe C isn't just that looping back round, that's a fuel pipe, or coolant pipe?

 

 

I use Quantum Platinum 5W40 bought via ebay on both our cars: e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-VW-VOLKSWAGEN-5-LITRE-QUANTUM-PLATINUM-ENGINE-OIL-5W-40-IZGB115QLB01521/223150047252?epid=5023316032&hash=item33f4c78014:g:I2wAAOSwridaIWK1:rk:2:pf:0

 

Does the job very well for minimal outlay.

 

 

 

Ah, wait, pipe A and "to where" pipe are one and the same, not connected to "airbox pipe"?

Edited 28 January, 20197 yr by Wino

Pipe "A" & "To where" are one pipe & are not connected to the air filter. Pipe B &"onto airbox" are the same pipe. These two pics may help. The first shows the airbox hole two (airbox lifted off & moved to the side)

OK, yeah, so the airbox connection is just a 90° elbow, heading for the brake servo hose.  Pipe A on the firewall is the output of the EVAP purge valve, next to the expansion tank.

 

It's not super-obvious to me why there's a fresh air feed into the brake servo vac hose, presumably the lump just to the left of where it tee's in at about 45° is a non-return valve? Otherwise it would just seem to be spoiling the servo vacuum. Is that a big split in that hose just to the left of the 'B' I've added? Or a trick of the light? Can't see it mattering much as it's just going to bring in unfiltered, instead of filtered air.

Edited 28 January, 20197 yr by Wino

I think the split is a trick of the light. I was using a long stick LED lead light which I think is reflecting! I will double check it though!

 

I'm going to go to the garage who did the oil change tomorrow to see what oil they used i.e. did they use their stock oil or anything speial. I've ordered some of the Wynns oil treatment too for £7.50, it's worth a go & could save me time & hassle!