My car has been diagnosed by a garage as needing a hydraulic tappet replacement.. this problem i thought i could deal with for a while until i very nearly got burnt by my mate in his fully loaded 1.0 Pug 106 on the motorway! i've got a 1.4 8v 6N.. bad times for vdub!

Anyway.. as above, i've been reading over the haynes manual considering doing it (I'm not very experienced and this will be the first proper engine related job in my life) and was just wondering about what i'm looking at.

Firstly, the manual describes the actual replacement of them as being an 'engine out-of-car' task, as it is part of the cylinder head replacement process or something. I was wondering, if you are only going as far as replacing the tappets, do you actually have to have the engine out of the car.. can't it just be done with the rocker cover off and cam out?

Also, I was just wondering about what parts and tools I would need to complete the job, I don't want to get half way through and find I'm missing something, as this is my daily driver. As far as I can list I will need..

New tappets x8 (Where can I get these from.. GSF?)

Some kind of new oil seal for the sprocket end of the cam

New rocker cover seal (mine is leaking anyway)

Torque wrench and general socket set

Anything I've missed? Also.. how long am I looking at this taking roughly? Considering I am quite a noob and will be in the Haynes manual and on here every other 10 seconds whilst doing it lol

Any other tips and advice would also be much appreciated as always!

Cheers,

Chris

you doing the valves too or just the tappets?

Tappets only: take off rocker cover, place pulleys to TDC slacken cam belt, remove cam bearing caps, remove cam, lift out tappets, then dip new ones in clean oil and fit, replace cam bearings in right order, tighten to torque, refit cambelt, check TDC (adjust till correct) and tighten belt, turn over by hand to check that cam timing is right, replace seal and cover.

when the cams off you could do the oil seal on that too.

you doing the valves too or just the tappets?

Tappets only: take off rocker cover, place pulleys to TDC slacken cam belt, remove cam bearing caps, remove cam, lift out tappets, then dip new ones in clean oil and fit, replace cam bearings in right order, tighten to torque, refit cambelt, check TDC (adjust till correct) and tighten belt, turn over by hand to check that cam timing is right, replace seal and cover.

when the cams off you could do the oil seal on that too.

Thanks man, better than Mr. Haynes himself!

Yeh I will just be doing the tappets..

When you said dip the tappets in oil, do you mean literally just so they are coated in it? They don't have to be left to soak for a certain amount of time before I put them in do they? And what's the deal with leaving the tappets to 'settle' for 30mins (or overnight) ? That means when they are in the engine yes? What's the reason for this? :S

Thanks again,

Chris

Before fitting turn them upside down and submerge them in oil for a few hours.

It can take about 30 minutes for a new tappet to pump itself up if they are new. If your engine has low oil pressure issues then its possible that the new tappet will just chew through your head.

Also dont go mad with the revs when you first install the tappets. Give the cam time to bed into the new tappets.

Never heard of leaving the tappets for a while. The theory of soaking them is to try and get as much oil to the tappet region for when you first start the engine. Whenever I do tappets I usually add oil from the cam cover so the cam/tappets are already covered in oil for the initial crank.