tappety tappety tap tap

[monkeyonboard]

I have an '87 B2 passat with a 1.8 petrol engine. When starting from cold it is very tappety, if that makes sense.

Once it has fully warmed up the tapping stops. what if anything can be done about this?

(done about 122K miles if that helps?)

thanks

[H]

a 1.8 petrol engine.
Every one of those I've had did it regardless of vehicle, age or mileage - it's OEM ;)

[monkeyonboard]

Every one of those I've had
did it regardless of vehicle, age or mileage - it's OEM ;)

thought it might be, our golf cab was the same and the LT:lol:

nothing to really worry about then? I find that if I turn the stereo up louder it tends to go away.

[H]

I find that if I turn the stereo up louder it tends to go away.

In my Golf Cab' an upgrade in the Alpine department certainly sorted the tappets in no time :)

:lol:

[monkeyonboard]

In my Golf Cab' an upgrade in the Alpine department certainly sorted the tappets in no time :)

:lol:

:cool: this seems the only viable solution:lol:

[C4 Metal Werks]

Change to a high detergent oil for a couple of oil changes then switch to a good semi sinthetic oil like Castrol.

[phade]

That's pretty normal for any engine which has hydraulic tappets, especially if the car/van hasn't been driven for a few days. This includes all type 2 T3 petrol engines regardless wether they are aircooled or watercooled and the mexican beetle/brazilian bay 1.6 litre ACD aircooled engine.

The way around that is to add Molyslip to the engine oil 200 miles (300 km) before the next oil change. Use engine flush at the next oil change and change the oil and oil filter as normal and the problem normally goes away.

If the rattling does not stop then the hydraulic tappets may need to be beld and refilled with engine oil. In the worst possible case the hydraulic tappet seals may also need to be replaced.

[H]

Can it cause harm to just leave them being rattly for the 30/45 or so seconds it has usually taken to clear in the cars I've had in the past or can it get much worse than that?

[phade]

That will do no harm at all. In fact that's quite normal for a VW/Audi engine with hydraulic tappets after it hasn't been run for a few days.

However, if it doesn't clear within about 15 minutes (or a lot longer than that with the type 4 aircooled engines) then the hydraulic tappets will need to be bled, it's seals renewed and refilled with engine oil.

[H]

Cool, thanks - I've never had a real long running one like that, they've always cleared in a couple of minutes at their absolute worst.

[monkeyonboard]

:( mine is usually lasting 5-10 minutes before it clears

Its probably due a good service so I will try the molyslip and engine flush, see if that helps.

thanks for the tips:)

[phade]

Also another thing I forgot to mention is that the hydraulic tappets will also rattle if the engine's oil level isn't topped up (eg. near or at max).

[monkeyonboard]

Also another thing I forgot to mention is that the hydraulic tappets will also rattle if the engine's oil level isn't topped up (eg. near or at max).

Yeah, I found that with our old golf.