New hydraulic lifters still tapping

[David James]

I've had a reconditioned cylinder head fitted that has been peened. It developed a tappet noise shortly after getting the car back. Been gently driving for six hundred miles and the tappets seemed to get worse. The garage have now replaced all the lifters but still remains tappety.

I've driven about one hundred miles and still tappety. Is this normal?

How long do the lifters need to bed in for?

[Sparky]

Hi David

Difficult for me to guess the level of 'tappetyness', but I'd expect it to be bedded in now. Are they all rattling, or just one or two?

Could be a number of reasons:

Wrong/low oil.

Interrupted feed to the lifters.

Low oil pressure.

Badly worn cam lobes.

But I assume it's been back to the garage, so none of these apply?

Also, maybe a silly question, but is it definitely the lifters? Using a screwdriver as a stethoscope would confirm locality of the tapping.

[David James]

Hi Gary thanks for your reply.

The car went in originally for an external head gasket leak. The engine ran fine but I wanted to fix it before it gave way. I decided to go for a reconditioned head that was peended because two years ago I already had the head gasket replaced with a MLS gasket and skim. Because it failed so soon after I decided a head that was peened might be a good option. The garage replaced the head. When it was ready for collection the head gasket gave way again. The cylinder head was faulty, the peened area had sunk causing HGF. The garage then replaced the faulty cylinder head with new but has remained tappety. The garage then replaced the lifters but has still remained tappy. The poor garage have now said a conrod could be bent caused by last HGF. They say it will be fixed on their expense as the engine ran fine before head removal. Oil level and pressure all fine. Just hope the garage can claim expenses on the engineering firm that supplied the faulty head as I've no complaints with the garage concerned.

Sorry for such a long post.

[Sparky]

Wow. What a mess! Keep us informed...

[yeti]

I spoke to a friend of mine today about hydraulic lifters. He said that getting the correct oil is essential to maintain pressure. Have you tried any oil additives?

[Alex Carter]

I started with Mobil 1 in my v8 and it's tapped it's nuts off I then changed to castrol 10/60 the BMW recommended oil and it became silky smooth