Irritated, Annoyed and Dispirited....

[Rochester]

Tappet rattle at idle.

Just changed my oil in the ordinary way + filter. Only difference being that the stuff going in is slightly thicker 15 - 50 than the 10 - 60 that was in there before. Fuel pump fuse out and turned over carefully to get the good stuff circulating. Started up on the button and...

Verdampte bloody sodding bastard swine of a tappet starts clacking away at idle and just won't go away. Plus engine not idling as well as it ought, 650 - 700 instead of the usual smooth 750 - 800 and a little bit lumpy.

Rev the engine, drive away, no problems, tappet noise goes away (or possibly simply can't be heard), drives as smoothly and powerfully as ever she did.

Pull up to a stop, no sound at first, but after ten or twelve seconds idling or so the tappet noise starts again.

Definitely a single tappet, not the dreaded bottom ends, heard both before and pretty sure I can tell the difference. Plus no tapping noise at 2K revs +. Only at idle.

Anyone any ideas ? Is it the change in viscosity rating of the oil ??? Should I go back down to 10 - 40 / 50 again ? And is a tapping tappet causing my lumpy idle ?

I will use the dear old search engine, not being lazy, but there are just soooo many threads to read on tappet noise that it seemed simpler to

(a) ask here in simple terms first ,
(b) get it off my chest
(c) thereby vent my spleen and
(d) have a little cry

[dgr]

sorry I cant help, but can I ask why you put a thicker oil in? Is that what grade CA's should be run on?

[skyshack]

15w50 is the highest grade that has the largest ambient temp range, -20°C to in excess of +40°C.

They do recommend a preference for 10w30 for temps above -20°C in cold and warm conditions. Though for a 100K mile engine 10W40 is possibly a better choice.

[Ghazoobe]

Should've used 20w50 oil, that made my s13 engine shut up

(now lets take bets on how long till I get slated for it)

[Rochester]

Mine is a 135K engine, albeit properly rebuilt at 89K.

Unfortunately I had a split pipe which led to all the water being ejected in short order a couple of thou ago and massive overheating before I was able to safely come to a stop. Oil was sufficiently overheated that all of the tappets were singing like an unholy choir.

I thought I had done the bottom end for sure but after leaving it to cool down and refilling with coolant all seemed well. Quality oil saved it without a doubt, Castrol Edge Sport 10 - 60 fully synth. Respect. Suspect I should have stuck with it for the refill.

However I couldn't resist 15 litres of Nulon road and track 15 - 50 fully synth for £25 as a lucky bid on fleabay, which is what I just put in. Unfortunately followed by Mr. Tappet deciding to join the percussion end of the choir....

Did the sniff test on my coolant once cooled down and it reeks of petrol.

I suspect that despite my luck with the bottom end I have cooked and warped the head.

If it is just that then I will frankly still count myself lucky.

Worst case scenario cracked head or cracked block ?.

If cracked head could that be causing said tappet to sing ?

[Rochester]

PS. Anyone want to buy 10 litres of Nulon 15-50 for a tenner

Though that is probably doing it an injustice.... unless anyone can tell me otherwise ? Thought it seemed decent enough stuff from what I could find out on the Aussie forums before buying it. Or have I missed something ?

Head definitely coming off again one way or the other, has to be done. Luckily I have been storing up spares and have two other heads to prep ready to swap on

[59bhp]

blocked cam spray bars?

[Pete C]

blocked cam spray bars?

No such thing on a CA, I didn't think? Only on nasty SRs

[fullmetalgasket]

Could the oil pump be on it's way out?
It may just be low oil pressure at idle/low revs

[alanjuggler]

PS. Anyone want to buy 10 litres of Nulon 15-50 for a tenner

Though that is probably doing it an injustice.... unless anyone can tell me otherwise ? Thought it seemed decent enough stuff from what I could find out on the Aussie forums before buying it. Or have I missed something ?

Head definitely coming off again one way or the other, has to be done. Luckily I have been storing up spares and have two other heads to prep ready to swap on

while you're there, I'd take the lifters out you have and bleed them properly (the service manual has the guide of it to do it - basically clean engine oil + tub + lifters stood up as they would be in the engine)

I'm not sure how rapidly the lifters do drop the oil that's in them so could be that the old oil, overheated oil is still in there and the new stuff was too thick to make it's way in easily.

[59bhp]

No such thing on a CA, I didn't think? Only on nasty SRs

ah sorry, i never read which section i'm talking in lol

[croustibat]

for gods sake people, learn how to chose your oil before putting some in your engine ... i am tired of repeating the same things again and again so just use the search button on oil and my nickname... if you arent convinced, or if you really are clueless and cant understand the basics of getting the right oil, ask opie oil (trader here) or google it. 20W50 is just plain stupid nowadays (YES it was used before, when oil viscosity was not consistent and a 20w50 oil would degrade to a 5w30 oil in a couple of runs, NO you dont need that now, YES you are killing your engine because a 20w50 STAYS at 20w50 now), 15w50 is still too thick unless weather temps are really high (it aint summer now). And unless you are getting oil temps > 130°C, 10w60 is also useless.

Basic of oil choice : get the thinner oil your engine can take that will keep your oil pressures in manufacturers range.

Short answer : get 5w50 if your tappets allows it, or 10w50 100% synth on a CA. Rebuilt CA with low tolerances can go 5w40 or 5w30, as long as tappets dont let them down, oil pressure is still good and the engine does not burn it too much.

long answer: try it yourself and monitor oil pressure according to workshop manual.

OP> tappets usually make noise when going thinner oil. Mine made noise when going 5W, so i went back to 10w. You sure you have enough oil ? Not enough oil and you get tappet noise too ...

[Dave270r]

for gods sake people, learn how to chose your oil before putting some in your engine ... i am tired of repeating the same things again and again so just use the search button on oil and my nickname... if you arent convinced, or if you really are clueless and cant understand the basics of getting the right oil, ask opie oil (trader here) or google it. 20W50 is just plain stupid nowadays (YES it was used before, when oil viscosity was not consistent and a 20w50 oil would degrade to a 5w30 oil in a couple of runs, NO you dont need that now, YES you are killing your engine because a 20w50 STAYS at 20w50 now), 15w50 is still too thick unless weather temps are really high (it aint summer now). And unless you are getting oil temps > 130°C, 10w60 is also useless.

Basic of oil choice : get the thinner oil your engine can take that will keep your oil pressures in manufacturers range.

Short answer : get 5w50 if your tappets allows it, or 10w50 100% synth on a CA. Rebuilt CA with low tolerances can go 5w40 or 5w30, as long as tappets dont let them down, oil pressure is still good and the engine does not burn it too much.

long answer: try it yourself and monitor oil pressure according to workshop manual.

OP> tappets usually make noise when going thinner oil. Mine made noise when going 5W, so i went back to 10w. You sure you have enough oil ? Not enough oil and you get tappet noise too ...

Why do you have such an attitude problem? Every time you post you are fcuking rude. Why not just stay out of it if you can't be sympathetic or helpful?

You need a personality adjustment

[Ghazoobe]

20W50 is just plain stupid nowadays

unless like me, you wanted to make the bottom end rattle stfu on your £50 engine, which it did after being filled with 20w50

[docwra]

Why do you have such an attitude problem? Every time you post you are fcuking rude. Why not just stay out of it if you can't be sympathetic or helpful?

You need a personality adjustment

Quite. Unfortunately crousitbat, not everyone has your incredible knowledge regarding engines, this is why they come here to ask questions.
Not everyone is able to find a solution through a search, its actually nice to get some encouragement and sympathy with problems too sometimes.

If you want to help then fine, give your advice but this board is not a platform to make yourself look superior by offending and insulting others. If you continue to do so then you will be banned for good.

Everyone else manages to give advice without resorting to posting in such an aggressive and arrogant manner, I suggest you consider using the tone the other 99.99% of this board use before posting again.

And its not because you are French, I know that.

[Jonny Wilkinson]

To my mind 5W40 is your best bet, Evan.

Mine runs nicely on it and its a bit thinner than 10W50 so it is runnier when cold.

10W50 is recommended for long runs like motorway work and hard work like drifting.

If you are just going out to play or most of your trips are sub-50 mile jaunts, I'd say 5W40 is the right oil for you.

As Alan says, flushing your lifters has got to be worth doing, especially if you're going to take the head off.

[M.D.]

i used a 5/30 once in my RB (effectively the same set up as the CA) and it rattled like a pig, went to a 10/40 and it was fine. finally ran a 10/60 for track and drift work which was better at coping with the heat obviously,
but for a general daily driven car a 10/40 was fine for years.

im running 15/40 in my ca at the mo to clear out all the crap from storage and ill change the oil for good stuff when i know the engines worth putting it in, which seems likely at the moment,
but even on the naff oil i got from morrisons its quiet as a mouse,

it may be that your oil pump is on its way so the pressure on idle is a little low, may be worth doing an oil flush to make sure there is no crap in the pump etc

[Sideways Danny]

didn't spill oil into the sparkplug well did you?

[croustibat]

Quite. Unfortunately crousitbat, not everyone has your incredible knowledge regarding engines, this is why they come here to ask questions.
Not everyone is able to find a solution through a search, its actually nice to get some encouragement and sympathy with problems too sometimes.

If you want to help then fine, give your advice but this board is not a platform to make yourself look superior by offending and insulting others. If you continue to do so then you will be banned for good.

Everyone else manages to give advice without resorting to posting in such an aggressive and arrogant manner, I suggest you consider using the tone the other 99.99% of this board use before posting again.

And its not because you are French, I know that.

You know what ? I am sick of this. I just wrote a loooong post then deleted it.

I will do like 99.99% of this board, just post junk comments on stupid threads. I promise i will try not to be arrogant and aggressive. Just dumb. That is how it works isnt it ?

ah well. Sorry, nope, cant do it.

BTW Oil grade choice is basic automotive knowledge, and that is described in EVERY CAR MANUAL. Not workshop manual, car one.

Ban me if it makes you feel better. It wont prevent other BBs to laugh and regard every SXOC member as a retard. While it may not be nice to hear, that is how SXOC is described around the world : "bunch of retards and morons". Check every other S chassis BBS. Painful to read, but sometimes quite true.

You dont agree with it, so i will write it again : protecting idiots from being lectured, and punishing lecturers lead to that kind of comment. Now dont take my word for it, check it. NASIOC, NRR, Zilvia, nicoclub. These are the first i can think of. Even ppl on driftworks.

SXOC is known as the place to go whining about wheel fitment, how you can stretch a 195 tyre on a 12" wide wheel, how much bling you can put on a car before it breaks down, and so on. I dont like that, so i try to make it better. Do you really think you can make something better the way you do ? Time has proven you wrong up to now. Maybe it is time for some education.

[Chriscooke]

You can educate without being condescending