Hi,
my Astra Mk3 (1.4 8valve, 140,000 miles) has, over the last couple of years, developed a clatter at startup. It is entirely dependent on ambient temperature, it only clatters in winter. It sounds like a single tappet, and clatters from between 3, and in this particularly cold weather, up to 20 seconds, before instantly disappearing. It doesn't seem to be any problem at present.
Is this a potential problem or is it turning into a diesel?
Cheers,
Gareth.
Tis either tired hydraulic lifters or a weak oilpump.
Next oilchange, before draining the old oil out, chuck a litre of automatic transmission fluid in the engine (you may need to drain a bit of old oil out first so you don't overfill) , run for 10-20 minutes on idle then drain and put a new filter and oil in the motor. The detergents in the ATF clean out the varnishing that can sometimes build up in the lifters.
Thanks, I'm just about to oil and filter change, hence the post. I shall take your advice.
I have been a little concerned that the oil light takes a second or so to go out from cold, but have no reference as to how normal or not this is.
Cheers,
Gareth.
Pump dies first, when they're knackered then if you stall down slightly as you set off then it'll flicker. But unless you fancy changing the cam & tappets then flush it as Conor says & don't worry about it. As is the way of these things sometimes it gets worse when you clean it.
If it is lifters there's a guy on ebay selling new sets of 8 genuine vauxhall lifters for £13 +£6 delivery (ebay No. 290279120353). Got some last week as local factors charge around 6 or 7 quid each. If it's similar to my mk3 diesel van there's a handy little tool you can get for pressing the valve down to remove tappets & lifters without touching the cam.
Thus spake Conor (conor snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) unto the assembled multitudes:
That's interesting. Is ATF basically the same as what is used to 'flush' an engine prior to an oil change?
I'd be more inclined to change the oil to that designed for a diesel which will be fine in a petrol engine if of the correct grade but has a much higher detergent content to deal with all the black crap that diesel engines produce. I'd be doubtful that a small percentage of anything, whether ATF or flushing oil, would do much constructive in a few minutes of running. Fully synthetic oils are also pretty good at cleaning out old engines.
However IME hydraulic lifter noises are usually more indicative of general engine wear and loss of oil pressure than any fault in the lifters themselves and given the mileage and the fact that the oil light now takes a second to go out on this one it's probably got significant wear in crank bearings, oil pump and other components and worrying about a small tappet rattle at startup is the least of anyone's worries. I'd just maintain it as well as possible for the rest of its life and hope it keeps on running for as long as possible.
That's pretty reasonable advice (to be expected from someone that knows a lot about engines).
I've replaced hydralic lifters on an old Golf with about 140K miles on, and it made it a lot quieter- one would tick intermittently when hot, and clatter a fair bit at a cold start- but the engine was very healthy otherwise, and the parts were cheap, and 90% of the work was done as a routine cambelt change.
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