correct engine oil for 2.5 v6 petrol(noisy tappets)

hogggman · Post by **hogggman** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:10 pm

hi,
can anyone tell me the correct grade of engine oil for my 1998 v6 2.5 petrol bongo?it has 80,000 miles and noisy tappets.the tappet noise settles down slightly after running for a short while.will an oil and filter change,and flushing with`wynns`help the tappets?
thankyou
jamie

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:46 pm

I'm a complete ignoramus on these things but would checking tappet clearances form part of Standard Operating Procedure here, or am I too stuck in the dark old days of BMC Type B engines

hogggman · Post by **hogggman** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:49 pm

help!i thought they were hydraulic tappets and therefore not adjustable?i`m new to this!

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:01 pm

You are almost certainly right. Don't forget I'm a dinosaur. No doubt someone who knows will be along soon to clear this one up.

cheffy34 · Post by **cheffy34** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:09 am

My v6 doesn't have noisy tappets, but i've had other cars that have, most of time an oil change has done it for me, after owning old vw's n audi's that are renown for noisy tappets on start up i don't worry about it, i use 10/40 semi synthetic, nothing to expensive so change it twice a year, mine was beginning to get noisy after 6 months but after an oil & filters is fine, if it not the oil not sure, but i know a man that will

Good luck

motorwizard · Post by **motorwizard** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:30 pm

With hydraulic tappets some can become noisy if they dont hold the oil when stopped. The tappet adjusts clearance with oil pressure to save maintenance and reduce noise. when the engine is stopped some valves are open and the valve spring is pressing on the tappet. if the tappet looses oil then when you start up the gap is wide hence the tapping the oil pressure quickly fills the tappet and the noise goes away. Sometime an oil change will flush out a bit of dirt on a seat inside the tappet and stop noise also the engine normally stops at random so the same tappet will not always be under pressure. If you have a continuous tapping or you get fed up with the start up tapping the problem is which one do you change? I had the problem on my mazda 626 the tappets were about £30 each (16 of them). To solve the problem I spent a weekend. I removed the rocker cover (4 cylinder not a V6) measured the valve clearances and wrote them down. Turned the engine over and noted which valves were open and left for a few hours. Turned the engine over so the open valves were now closed and measured the valve clearances. left for a few hours and repeated the process untill all vavles had been open and then closed. I found three which the valve clearance was bigger on second measurement and replaced those three tappets and the engine was quite after that. Remember if you are going to change the tappets then it is wise to change the cam belt of it is not new and you will have to time the camshafts when you reassemble.