300tdi tappet noise or not ?

I hope its not, but if you have had the timing belt replaced recently it could be the crankshaft pulley has come loose. And that is nasty! :cry:

Thanks Sheff but its not that, I have actually had the timing gear done twice in the past year ( dont ask me why 8O )

keep the ideas coming guys, please

<span style="color:green">bring it down so i can have a listen to it......</span>

Your in Sydney right ? hmm 1000ks for a second opinion

Hi There,
Just another option to add to the ever-growing list............if it's been there all along, it could be down to piston-ring slap.......some new cars have it from very early on, some just develop it later due to out of tolerance bore/ piston clearance.........im not talking huge, this can be MINISCULE! and importantly, if you have no issues with low power, and no unusual oil use, then dont worry too much.

One question though.......what is the viscosity grade of the oil that you use???


thanks,

Wayne.

I can add a little here. I had a distinct tapping noise on my 200tdi and it sounded like a very noisey tappett, especially on over-run. I was convinced it was mechanical but I couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was coming from. Ultimately I had to pull the timing cover off again (after replacing the timing belt and having the very carefully installed genuine crankshaft oil seal fail within 2000km :x ), and before removing the new timing belt, I checked it to find it was slightly out. Not a tooth out or anyhting like that, just a slight bit of movement when the 3 bolts on the pump were loosened after the pump was locked into position.

When I reassembled everything I made especially sure that the timing was triple checked, and on re-start the tapping noise was gone, and hasn't returned since.

Secondly, I can also add that a genuine tappett noise irritated me on this engine before the timing belt replacement. Adjusting the tappetts cured it only for a short time, when it would then return. The culprit in this instance was the valve caps which were very worn. They appear to wear slightly unevenly and are free to rotate on the valve stem. This means that you can adjust them up correctly in one position, but they then rotate a little creating excess gap. The only solution is to replace the caps (they only cost about $2 each).


Paul [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

Valve caps sounds like a good idea, I will look into that one . Thanks

While everyone is looking for the worst case scenario then working back, I think (my opinion only) wayne may have hit the nail on the head. Mine gets a bit noisy roughly about oil change time, so possibly your oil may not be the right one as he suggests. At least that is cheaper than pulling it apart.

john

I have it running on Penrite HPR deisel , changes every 10000 ks

Is this a poor oil ?

How old is your fan/serpentine belt.

From memory, a while ago now, the belt on my 300tdi looked good on visual inspections but at certain revs, just above idle I think, it started making a noise that sounded like a bearing noise.(metal clacking) I took off the belt and turned all pulleys etc, everything was good. Put a new belt on noise was gone. Put the old belt on noise was back.

Cheers
JohnM