Rover V8 / hydraulic tappet experience or knowledge?
Turbo Mini Forums

Despite having had three range rovers, and an SD1 vitesse, I've never had any problems with hydraulic tappets.

Moving forwards many years, and I've just purchased a 'well equipped' 2003 discovery for $4k which has a noise from the engine.

Here is a video / recording of it:
http://www.davecoxon.co.uk/v8_tick.AVI



Now, the vehicle has got 107K miles on it, and I know it was dealer serviced until 75K, after that I don't know... And that is all the history I know as I go it from a dealer who acquired it as a trade-in.

So, I have experienced engines with knackered big-ends before - and understand they tend to grenade pretty quickly. I've run this engine for 2 hrs total - the dealer had also run it for about the same. This engine pulls well, idles smoothly, and the 'tick' is definately a 'single cylinder related' kind of event.

I know the dealer tried some 'magic flush' junk he had on his shelf, and I have dropped the oil, filled with 5w/30 and something called 'seafoam' that is suposed to help. Personally, I don't hold much hope for these miracle cures. That said, after startign the engine yesterday after changing the oil (1 degrees C) it ticked for 5 seconds, then quietened down to the slight rover V8 ticking that is familiar, but as it warmed up, became noisy again. The ticking can come and go as well - if it goes, it is for around 30 seconds or less, then it's back (as i said - it's never completely quiet).

So, I'm looking for some input on a few things - would you agree that a knackered big-end would definately not have a constant tick and that it would grenade itself inside of a few hours (when this has happened to me I've pulled the engine straight away, never driven to destruction).

What would you reckon on changing just the offending tappet if the cam and tappet base itself looked ok? I checked out RPI's website and they say definatly not ever, never - but we've all used 'second-hand' cams and new follwers I'm sure - and I've never had a problem?


Another piece of info re-the noise; it seems to be 'everywhere'... I've tried a stethoscope, and there is definately more noise in the LH rocker box towards the back than anywhere else in either rocker box. The noise is also really lound underneath the engine - but i'm kind of wondering if the alloy block and alloy sump are doing nothing to dampen the noise....

If any Rover V8 bods know more about this than me, I'd appreciate input!

Edited by turbodave16v on 8th Dec, 2008.

Weeeell,

in my experience with hydraulic lifters on xe's and cvh's swaping them out normally cures it.

CVH's , do they still uise them,
i once ran my CVH essort very low on oil once, lifters started tapping, so put some oil in, still took a week of driving before they quietened down, completely

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Might be worth pulling the rocker cover and checking the preload on the lifter.

I'm assuming that it the same as a SBC. Take up the clearance and one full turn.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

It isn't a crack in an exhaust manifold is it?

Most definately not - I wish it was. It's a metallic clack!

Are they like CVH? Whip them out, squeeze them in a vice so all the crap comes out......then throw them back in with a drop of decent oil. 9 times out of 10 used to quiet them down

big end bearings can rattle away for weeks long as you dont rev it hard. seen it 1st hand. but the dont randomly get quieter. quck n simple test i find is to inspect the dipstick, if it has a very fine grey/almost black powwder on it its the babbitt material from the bearing thats lunching itself, most noticable whn you wipe a bit of the dipstick with your finger. can usually use this technique to see a big end bearing failure before it even starts to make a noise! . see the grey shit and a few weeks later the bottom end is rattling. can you not take the rocker covers off easily and inspect the clerances, if any are notably excessive compared to the others that highlights your duff lifter.

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

I will have the covers off soon. This is the Bosch engine though - i have to take off the upper intake and all the EGR crap just to get at the rocker boxes...

something you might find dave is the tappet on the lobe has not been rotating ,and it wears a rectangular wear patch on it ,this then takes up the tappet compression and starts to rattle ,then ,if the tappet starts to rotate again , it will take up the clearance as it rotates and stop tapping then go loose again and make noise .if it has been going quiet ,then loud id deff look at a tappet ,and id hoick em out and change them all ,have a good look at the lobes and see if they are domed acrosss the face on max lift .also id drive it for a while and get it well hot with the new oil for a few 100 miles ,oh and hows the oil pressure ?

edit .. just listened to the vid ,seems a bit loud and up top ,check to see if the pushrod end hasnt worn away the cup in the end of the rocker .

Edited by robert on 8th Dec, 2008.

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

Probly a cracked piston

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