Loud Ticking noise from Engine

[shirudell]

Hi,

I know diesels are noisy things, and the latest diesel engines even more so if it werent for lots of dampening material under the bonnet, but...

Has anyone elso noticed this, and is it normal?> The first 1000 miles driving my new 110 TDi this didnt occur, but recently Ive noticed a loud regular ticking/clicking noise from the engine after starting from cold, the noise doesn't go away for about 15/20 minutes, its directly linked to the engine revs and my first thought was that it was the tappets. Ive now done 2000 miles and the car is still making this noise. I checked the oil yesterday and noticed is was about 1/3 of the way down from max to min, so I topped it up with about .25 litre of oil, This seems to have reduced the tapping noise quite a bit, although its still there.

Does anyone know what this noise is? Is it normal? I dont mind the engine burning a little oil during running in, and it was still way above minimum when I topped it up, surely there shouldnt be any noise caused by the oil dropping such a tiny amount?

 

[209AZ]

Sticking hydraulic tappet ?.If ticking is half the speed of the engine then it's cam related and a good bet that it is a sticky tappet.

 

[Brian27]

I have had the same ticking in my Alhambra, I think it's the fuel pump.

The ticking gets louder with the age/mileage of the oil. Seems to be normal.

 

[shirudell]

Thanks for the replies guys, the ticking does sound as if its about half engine revs in frequency.

If it is a sticking tappet is this something that would sort itself out? How serious is it? I havn't noticed any drop in performance of the engine since the noise started.

Would the fuel pump noise be about half engine revs in frequency too? I would just take the car to my local dealer, but I'd like to be more sure there's a problem first as the car's an import and I dont want to make the local dealer spend time on my car with no reason as they would make no money out of SEAT for any potential warranty work - I have already had a problem with them over a minor warranty issuse with my auto dimming mirror and dont want to aggravate them any more than I have to !

 

[mcmail]

It sounds like a tappet to me if it is making the noise from cold.

MY golf GTI done this and I replace the lot of them as the engine had done 100,000 miles. but if your car is new I would thake it back to the dealer to get them to check it out

 

[andyb]

I did get a quiet ticking from the engine when cold, again low-mid revs but its dissapeared now

 

[shirudell]

AndyB - Can you remember what mileage the ticking started and roughly when it went away?



DaveB

 

[Tdi 110]

Mine does it the first 15 seconds of so, always has, now on 32,000 miles. I did read about a Bora TDi 110 that had same problem, sticking tappets as said....but not a big problem.

 

[prc]

Both the 110 beeza (217000+km) I owned and the 150 toledo (26000km) do/did the ticking for the 1st 10-15 seconds, maybe a bit longer on colder mornings. What I did notice on the beeza was that the amount of time the engine ticked was reduced when I changed over from normal to synthetic Oil.

 

[andyb]

Originally posted by shirudell
AndyB - Can you remember what mileage the ticking started and roughly when it went away?

from memory it must have started doing it (or rather I first heard it) about 4-5000miles. I had an oil light come up about 3 wks ago, topped it up and it was only this weekend I thought that it had gone.

This morning, started the engine and listerned outside the car. It was still there for about 20 odd seconds and then dissapeared, its much quieter. Not sure if thats related to the oil. never really bothered me until now, but I'll keep an eye (sorry ear!) out in future

prc- I'm assuming that it ticked longer on synthetic as its thinner?

 

[mik]

My car ticks quite loudly for 5-10 secs after I start it ~ longer on colder days. Surely this isn't valves "sticking" 'til oil supply gets to them??????

 

[209AZ]

It isn't the valve that sticks,if it did you would soon know about it !

The hydraulic tappet uses oil to take up the slack ,so in effect they self adjust.

If the bits inside the tappet are "Sticky" then the clearance is a bit bigger than normal and will tick.

I would go as far to say that they should not tick at all.Don't be fobbed off by your dealer.If they tick constantly,they are faulty.
That is the whole point of hydraulic tappets as opposed to screw and locknuts or shims etc.

A ticking that dissappears a few seconds after startup is probably OK.

 

[prc]

Not!!

Originally posted by andyb


from memory it must have started doing it (or rather I first heard it) about 4-5000miles. I had an oil light come up about 3 wks ago, topped it up and it was only this weekend I thought that it had gone.

This morning, started the engine and listerned outside the car. It was still there for about 20 odd seconds and then dissapeared, its much quieter. Not sure if thats related to the oil. never really bothered me until now, but I'll keep an eye (sorry ear!) out in future

prc- I'm assuming that it ticked longer on synthetic as its thinner?

Andyb, thats a no no. It actually was reduced from 20 or so odd seconds to 10-15. It's probably the time required for the oil to reach idling preasure??

 

[nealo]

Sorry to revive an old thread but its relevant to my problem.

My car has started this annoying ticking noise. Its an 06 ibiza tdi cupra. It started ticking last month and was in need of an oil change. The car has since had a 40000mile service and cam belt and water pump etc changed. I didn't ask the garage to investigate the ticking as I thought an oil change might cure it. But the ticking is still there. It's noticeable outside the car more and sounds awful at ~2000 revs. It sounds like an old banger!!
Is this likely to be tappets also? and would they need replacing?

Cheers,

Neal

 

[brad1]

How much is it to replace tappets on a diesel then and labour costs etc?

 

[ktreadwell]

Brad1, did you ever investigate the cost of replacing the tappets?

I have recently changed the timing belt (after it snapped!) including water pump, valves, valve guides and tappets and every since it has been very "ticky" and you're right it does sound like an old banger despite running sweetly?!

I am hoping an oil change will sort this - current oil is in to flush and clean the engine.

Oil change scheduled for a couple of weeks - will post back on the ticking.

K

 

[MrTrEv]

Hi, i just brought a 1.8T leon and there is now a ticking noise. I've been reading through the forums and tappets seem the main answer to my question but a mate told me it could be an electrical sensor or something like that as it sounds like its coming from the left hand side of the engine near the wing?
any ides on that anyone?

thanks

 

[Viking]

Mate, this thread, and this whole section is specifically for diesel discussions and yours is a petrol. You'd do better posting in the Mk1 Leon section perhaps.

 

[MrTrEv]

lol soz mate done it on a search will do

 

[jwarnette]

Thank god I'm not alone.

I have a 2.0 TDI Leon Mk2 just done 50k and had my belts replaced at 44k. It does this odd clicking, tapping noise when the engine gets hot, and especially when i'm stop starting in traffic. I can't tell you how much I HATE this ruddy noise. I take pride in my car and it makes me want to sell it and get a petrol, such is its annoyance!

Did anyone get to the bottom of this?