best grade engine oil for quietening v6 hydraulic tappets?

[Littlemovers]

Hi Hoggman,

I think what your problem may be is the piston ring has gone. What happens is your van has been left idle without use for a long period of time and when it has been started, the piston ring seizes to the wall of the chamber and cracks and this should be what is causing the tapping.

Nothing to do with tappets. Sorry to give you the news, this is just from our experience, we have had two vehicles which drove perfectly with the same problems as you have described and this was the case on both. I also know of other cases, same cause.

I hope this helps.

Phil.

[hogggman]

hi phil,
do you mean that they still drove ok with this problem?or before?did the people in question get them fixed,or drive them `as is`.i haven`t done a compression test yet.would the offending piston give a much lower reading?any ideas whether replacement piston rings are available in th uk?
thanks
jamie

[dandywarhol]

If that is the case littlemovers/Jamie then the broken ring will score the cylinder bore in no time and it'll drink oil and smoke

[hogggman]

well,mine certainly doesn`t smoke,and hasn` used a drop of oil in 3 months.
jamie

[dandywarhol]

Well, get the feckin' cam covers off then.........................

[Dolly1]

I second that.
OFFF with the covers.Keep us posted

[Littlemovers]

hi phil,
do you mean that they still drove ok with this problem?or before?did the people in question get them fixed,or drive them `as is`.i haven`t done a compression test yet.would the offending piston give a much lower reading?any ideas whether replacement piston rings are available in th uk?
thanks
jamie

Hi Jamie,

Well I scraped both vehicles but I know Mark at JapTec managed to fix his one as I had to send him a new piston from one of my breakers.

In my case the vans were more valuable as parts so i'm not sure whether a compression test will show anything, i think it should show a lower reading though yes.

I don't think replacement rings are available in the UK your best bet is to contact Mark and let him know i refered you or bongobits as they're the same people.

DandyWarhol, we didn't have that problem with smoking from our vans, they drove fine but the noise was there the whole time. I checked out the cost of fixing them and it was more economical on my half to sell them as parts.

Cheers,

Phil.

[dandywarhol]

Interesting Phil - did you see the damaged piston rings? it's just possible they haven't come out of their groove and scored the bore........

[Littlemovers]

Hi Dandy, They hadn't thats why it was running fine and not burning oil.

As far as I could see they hadn't broken or scored the bore, they had cracked.

Phil.

[hogggman]

hi all,
it looks as if we`re coming to the bongo bash.i know a few(lot)of you are exasperated that i haven`t taken the rocker covers off yet.perhaps we could have a`rocker cover removal masterclass`and you could all offer your verdicts?
hopefully see you all there-unless you all run and hide?
jamie

[Dolly1]

Hi,
Do you think we might hear you before we see you.???

[manners]

I picked mine up this morning after I left my Freda with the dealer for three weeks while i was on holiday to have the tappets done under warranty, the parts were £800 not counting labour Its now 90% better with only a very slight tick when under load. He showed me the ones he took out some looked as though they had been chewed a couple were seized solid so i presume the ticking i get now is a bit of cam wear.

[hogggman]

hi,
that`s quite a lot.i`ve done another oil and filter change.i refilled with synthetic 5/40 oil and then added some hydraulic lifter treatment,to hopefully free up the tappets a bit more,and then some wynn`s stop leak,which supposedly rejuvenates rubber seals,and i hoped any valve seals might benefit from that.it does sound better,so now i`ll leave it and just run it for a while,though i`ll still remove the rocker covers,and maybe the camshafts and inspect/clean the hydraulic lifters,when i get a free weekend,i certainly don`t think it`ll be before the bongo bash.
bye for now
jamie

[Dolly1]

Hi Jamie
Camshaft removal is not neccessary.
Remove cam covers,check out the cam lobes,if there is any wear you will see it.
Now you have to decide,new cams now,or put the cam covers back on and put
up with the tappety tap tap noise for now and get new cams later.
If you buy new cams don,t forget to buy the followers as well.Best of luck