tappet rattle

[heaveho]

Hi,

we've just bought a 2002 V6 sport auto estate which, in most respects, we're very happy with. Our only gripe is the tappet rattle it has from cold for a short time, and more annoyingly, occasionally when hot. The car has 49K, full history, and the oil has just been changed with the correct grade to try to cure the problem. This has helped, but not eradicated the problem.

Our previous galant, a W reg. V6 never did this, even with almost 100K on it, and I was wondering if anyone else on here had experienced it....all info gratefully received, cheers, Andy.

[Nevman]

If you look through the forums, you'll find that many other owners got this same issue (me too).
Unfortunately it is normal in these engines.
Apparently you can change the tappets to the uprated ones (around £200/set) with 3mm diameter (1mm in standard) and that should cure the problem. However the noise itself doesn't harm the engine at all. It is only an annoying noise.

[Physician]

Hi Andy,

I have had the tappet noise issue since I bought my VR4 in 2004 with 41,000 miles on the clock. It now has 60,000 miles clocked up.

I have always used the correct high grade fully synthetic oil, changed at the correct intervals but the tappets consistently made that horrible rattling noise.

But NO LONGER!!! I was going to change mine for a so called 'uprated' or 'upgraded' set with 3mm oil holes but when my engine was recently stripped to check oil pressure it was found that I already had 3mm oil hole tappets.

Anyway, one of our Members, Nick Mann, did an engine oil flush with white spirit and since then my car has been whisper quiet. So ....... I would suggest an engine flush firstly to see if that will work and if not then simply have your tappets removed and cleaned PROPERLY according to the Mitsubishi data sheet. I'm now of the opinion that it doesn't really matter whether you have 1 or 3mm oil holes.

Good luck.

[Nick Mann]

I do have new lash adjusters in mine. I did do the clean and re-fit, and an engine flush, but they wouldn't quieten down.

IMO there are two possibilities:
1. there is dirt in the system from an incorrect grade of oil/long period between oil change/general abuse of oil which is blocking the oilways in or to the lash adjusters.
2. there is one or more adjusters with a foobarred internal mechanism, which have either over adjusted and locked out, or are unable to hold pressure.

The flush is the first thing to try, as it is a LOT cheaper than a new set of adjusters.

[Davezj]

I had the tappet noise, tried all the above methods of fixing it and no joy, flushes removal and cleaning, ect, ect.

My car had 3mm oil hole in the top of the tappets, and the ones i changed them for had 2mm oil holes.

Well to cut a very long story short, engine sounded like a bag of spanners. I did nothing apart for change the tappets and it is now quiet. The oil in the engine (castrol edge 0-30) was 1000miles old at the time and i deliberatly did nothing else to the engine when i changed the tappets to see if it was that that cured the noise completely. and it was, quiet as a mouse.

I can only conclude that somewhere between 1 and 24 of the tappets had something physically wrong with them. as stated above. i still have them as i don't tend to through anything away. I am tight like that, you never know when these things are going to come in usefull.

Oh and by the way you can change them you self if you are happy to use basic tools.

Just thought i would let you know.

[heaveho]

Thanks for all the replies, I've never heard of this before, and we had our previous V6 for five reliable years! It sounds like it's only one tappet out at the mo, and it's not on all the time.

Possibly just coincidence, but it started to develop an exhaust blow somewhere near the front, which I'm hearing for the first time today. The last time we had a car do this, it also sounded like it was ticking when cold, so maybe it's this noise that I'm mistaking for the tappets?

Cheers, Andy.

[bradc]

With my VR-4 I find that there is always one tappet that makes noise when I first start the car and it is either on the middle-rear cylinder or drivers side rear cylinder. When the oil gets a bit older there are one or two others that tap, but only for a second or so. Change the oil and it goes back to just the same old one again :) I think that particular one is stuffed.

As others have said, it may have been neglected for a period of time with old oil and that may be the problem. Did you put synthetic oil into it, and what grade?

[psbarham]

now then andy, found your way over at last /Welcome /Welcome hows sophie and clare??

[heaveho]

Hi Paul, everyone fine at this end, we'll ring soon to finalise the plan for Soph. Hope you're all O.K.?

bradc, grade of oil was 10/40, and it was Mobil semi synth.

[psbarham]

Hi Paul, everyone fine at this end, we'll ring soon to finalise the plan for Soph. Hope you're all O.K.?

bradc, grade of oil was 10/40, and it was Mobil semi synth.

gee we are all spot on thanks

And stop being tight and putting semi synthetic ****e in the car/pan , they deserve better than that. mine used to rattle like a good'un after 2000 miles on semi, changed to amsoil fully synthetic and now its quieter than a church mouse's fart, well until you touch the throttle anyway /Devil5

speak to ya soon

Paul

[heaveho]

Bugger, nice cheap fix for the exhaust blow then....front pipe flexi's had it, new front pipe chimes in at circa £250! Ouch. Only had the car a week and it's already cost more to run than the other one did over 5 years! Hmmm, perhaps the depression's making me exaggerate a bit!

On the subject of engine flush, what's the routine...do you just let the car stand idling for a given period of time with the flushing agent before draining and refilling a couple of times, or do you actually drive it? Can't bear the thought of adding to the probs at the minute by getting this all wrong.

Paul, can't understand why the oil being semi or fully synth should make a difference tbh, our other one ran on semi all the time we had it, with regular changes, and was still whisper quiet at 95K. Didn't make the rattle once, even when cold, and it did 60K in our ownership. It seems bizarre that my Evo is quieter than the Galant, especially given the way that gets driven!

[Davezj]

Evo's suffer from tappet noise as well in a big way.

Just login to MLR and search on tappet noise.

[psbarham]

Bugger, nice cheap fix for the exhaust blow then....front pipe flexi's had it, new front pipe chimes in at circa £250! Ouch. Only had the car a week and it's already cost more to run than the other one did over 5 years! Hmmm, perhaps the depression's making me exaggerate a bit!

On the subject of engine flush, what's the routine...do you just let the car stand idling for a given period of time with the flushing agent before draining and refilling a couple of times, or do you actually drive it? Can't bear the thought of adding to the probs at the minute by getting this all wrong.

Paul, can't understand why the oil being semi or fully synth should make a difference tbh, our other one ran on semi all the time we had it, with regular changes, and was still whisper quiet at 95K. Didn't make the rattle once, even when cold, and it did 60K in our ownership. It seems bizarre that my Evo is quieter than the Galant, especially given the way that gets driven!

250 quid /Grrr bugger thats steep :o if its just the flexi section i reckon its possible to chop out the original bit and weld in some of that flexible repair stuff you used to be able to get.

as for the engine flush yeh just get the engine nice and toasty then pour the tin in and leave it on a fast (1000-1200 rom) tick over for 10-15 mins then drop the oil etc.

i could never get my head around why people would run expensive oil in an everyday car, then i tried amsoil in my v6 and bugger me what a difference, like night and day, so much quieter and smoother, it really was worth the extra 20 quid per service. there does seem to be a good varity of engine noise across the forum, mine was as quiet as a mouse until 130000 miles then the rattle 'o' doom started, others have had it at much lower milage others have never heard it even on high milers, i suppose its one of those things, friday night specials spring to mind /pan

[heaveho]

Yeah, don't mind spending the money on something if it's gonna guarantee a result, but I hate not knowing if it'll turn out to be O.K afterwards or not.

My old Corrado VR6 springs to mind when I'm trying to solve problems like the tappet rattle on the Galant..... there wasn't one day in the whole five years I owned that car when it didn't have something wrong with it. Ended up spending more on it than I paid for it , which, as Claire will never tire of telling anyone who'll listen, is bloody madness!

I know it's only been a week or two since we got the Galant, but it's already crossed our minds that it might turn out to be one of 'those' cars! Having said all that, it's a really nice drive, it has full history, and since my mate did his dent removal tricks on it yesterday, it's in fantastic nick.