i recently bought my very first VW.... a polo 6n2 1.4 16v :-D

very nice car to drive and alot quicker then i expected form a 1.4.... however theres this strange tappin noise coming from what sounds like the right hand side of the engine and when standing back sounds like a diesel engine ticking over now my mate has a 1.4 16v with a 100k on the clock and thats quiet ticking over compared to this and its starting to drive me mad lol..

i have had a look on here for some answers and found a few sujestions on here of what it could be but no one has actualy come back and said yes I've had so and so changed and its now cured.. so I've done my own thing and have flushed the old oil out with engine flush and replaced it with 10w40 oil from VW along with the oil filter and ran that in and still the noise is there tap tap tap!! altough i have found when the engine is up to its operating temp the tapping does quiet down and seems to go completeley at about 2500rpm....so the investigstion continues i hav irdered from VW....

new set of hydraulic lifters

new alternator

cam belt kit with tensioners

aux belt tensioner

aux belt

and are having these fitted saturday... is there any chance it could be amything els?? lol please heeeelllllppp :-)

crikey that's hard core!! a new set of hydraulic lifters for that engine is about £200, without being involved with the diagnosing of the fault i wouldn't want to comment but it might be low just oil pressure, could be oil pump getting lazy or the oil pickup pipe strainer is a little bit blocked up

Edited 31 August, 201016 yr by SkodaBoy

if you're changing the tappets, soak them in oil for 24 hours before you use them, otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

Okie doke ill soak them in oil for 24hrs before they get fitted ill see

what happens after I've had these fitted then.. If its still there ill try oil pump

or get it down to the nearest VW specialist lol

since your own fault finding failed, would you not of brought it to a garage before going and ordering new parts it prob douen't need??

tbf, most of what he's fitting is general maintenance.

Yer there is a method to the madness lol... It needs a new alternator cuz the bearings are shaggedand its making a racket so i thought ide have the belt and tensioner done while its off... Also the cambelt was due a change at 60k and its now on 66k so i thought ide have all the tensioners and water pump changed cuz the water pump will prob disintergrate when taken off and i dont suppose the rollers and tensio er will last much longer... And whilst the belts off why not change the tappets considering its the most likley culprit of this anoyin noise lol  and if its still tapping after that down to the specailst she will go

if you're changing the tappets, soak them in oil for 24 hours before you use them, otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

I thought you had to drain tappets of oil before fitting them, as if they are too full they can hold the valves open when they should be closed..

and that the oil pressure should pump oil into the tappets once the engine is running to take up the right clearances?

CWA is correct in what he says, once that you have the new tappets in and the camshaft back, don't attempt to start the engine for an hour or so, in fact, if you are putting the belt on and find that the cam shaft won't turn, it's probable that one valve is kissing a piston, so have another cup of tea and try again!

I did mean to ask, do you think that the tapping sound is at engine speed or half engine speed? Half engine speed would probably be the tappets, engine speed could be pistons or small ends.

Edited 31 August, 201016 yr by caretakerplus

if it goes or gets quiter when revving then its probably tappets but i wouldnt rule out low oil pressure.

it makes the tapping noise ticking over and the tapping gets faster as the engine speed increases up until 2500rpm then the tapping completley disaperes up until the revs drop down below 2500rpm.... I've herd that oil pumps are a common fault among the VW range but when i asked does it cause a tapping noise i got a confused dont know answer lol..... my car is booked in at my work monday to have the timing belt kit and tappets replaced... we have 3 technitians that specialise in skoda which is basicly a VW engine so its in safe hands lol....fingers crossed :-) in the mean time ill crack on with fitting the new alternator and belt and the new tensioner lol

It seems a bit of a waste of time fitting new belt & tensioner and then fitting a new timing belt, why not just put the new alternator on and let the people who do the rest of the work fit the new drive belt and tensioner when they put it all back together?

I don't think that the tapping sound is down to low oil pressure, if it were, you would be calling it a knocking sound!

I am a little concerned about how you describe the sound as going off when the revs go up and returning as they fall, this could well be an indication of 'piston slap', the cure of which involves more than changing the tappets.

Let's just hope that it is me being pessimistic.

Regards.

Hi, just some advice. The 6n2 engines are known to sound like that and be completely normal. It seems to be a peculiar characteristic of those engines. I suspect you may be comparing the AFH engine with yours. They sound very different.

PoloD

It seems a bit of a waste of time fitting new belt & tensioner and then fitting a new timing belt, why not just put the new alternator on and let the people who do the rest of the work fit the new drive belt and tensioner when they put it all back together?

I don't think that the tapping sound is down to low oil pressure, if it were, you would be calling it a knocking sound!

I am a little concerned about how you describe the sound as going off when the revs go up and returning as they fall, this could well be an indication of 'piston slap', the cure of which involves more than changing the tappets.

Let's just hope that it is me being pessimistic.

Regards.

ye I've herd someone mention piston slap before but they never explained what it is that may need replacing so what is piston slap exactley?

Alternator abd tensioner changed got rid of the grinding noise :-) .... got the car into my local VW specialist were he had a strong feeling of what he thought it was anyway causing this tapping but did a compression test and oil pressure test anyway and they both came up fine he got out the listning device thing they use and had a listen to what he first thought was the problem.... which he reckons the cams hav worn into the rockers on the timing side of the engine (Offside) causing a dip in the rockers which in turn causes the loud tapping noise it is making.. but has not yet worn enuff to cause a miss fire yet ( A common fault with the 1.4 8v engines)

its due its cam belt change so ill be changing as instructed cambelt kit.. rockers and cams and if i want might aswel put new hydrolic lifters in with them to and this should sort the tapping noise that has been driving me mad

Fingers Crossed ay and ill keep it updated on here :-D

Piston slap, as the name implies, is the sound of pistons on the cylinder bore, unless it is using oil or lacks power, it is not too much to get concerned about, especially as it tends to disappear as the temperature goes up and the pistons expand. Most people just live with it.

well this dosent disapeer as the temp in the bore increases on mine i can drive for an hour at 70mph and the car runs quietly... but as soon as i come to a stop and it sit on idel alls i can hear is tap tap tap tap no matter how warm it is its still loud lol.... and surely if the piston was hitting the inside of the chamber it would loose some sort of compression yet mine starts cold with no loss in compression and reads the same compression warm

Don't suppose it is the injectors?

I've always been told that if you've still got noisy tappets after an oil and filter change then whip 'em out and soak them in brake fluid, or, befriend your local watchmakers and get them to run them through the ultrasonic cleaner. Then refit as per instructions. It makes sense as the oil ways in the tappets are so small that any debris thats gets into them is going to stay there. Note I haven't done this myself but is what I was advised to do on my old skaddy before I put it on it's roof :)

When I described piston slap, I was referring to the pistons literally 'slapping' the cylinder bores, NOT the cylinder head. but if that was happening, it might go with temperature increase, but wouldn't keep coming and going as you describe. This is why I asked if the noise sounds to be at engine speed or half engine speed, half engine speed would indicate something driven by the camshaft,e.g. tappets, whereas a sound at engine speed could be, as we have said, piston slap or small end bearings in the pistons/con-rods.

You can (almost) discount low oil pressure, as if this was low enough to make a noise, it would be a knocking sound (big-end bearings) or a rumble (main bearings)

its due its cam belt change so ill be changing as instructed cambelt kit.. rockers and cams and if i want might aswel put new hydrolic lifters in with them to and this should sort the tapping noise that has been driving me mad

touble is with this, the rockers in that engine are very expensive (like £20 each and there's 16 of them as well as 16 hydraulic lifters), and you shouldn't fit new rockers on a worn out camshaft... before long you will have spend more in just parts that buying a whole replacement engine and sticking that in there, and that still may not be the problem

I read about fitting new rockers onto a worn camshaft, and the general consensu was that it shouldnt make a difference

I've LITERALLY HAD THE SAME PROBLEM OCCUR TODAY!!

started my car this morning and had a loud tapping noise coming from the cambelt area, my car is the same as yours 1.4 16v, so i took the covers off and had a good listen and feel about, couldnt find anything other than the cambelt being slightly worn (car is on 62000 and due cambelt). i reckon its either my tensioners making a racket or something to do with the cam and rockers like you have said

WHAT A PAIN IN THE ASS! my car is under warrenty as i bought it about 5 weeks ago thank god!!

keep me updated!

nick

Don't suppose it is the injectors?

I agree with the above idea. My afh engine also sounsd tappey on tickover like you are describing. I have listend using the end of the dip stick and I think my noise is coming from the injectors.

Mabey you could try these first as it would be alot cheeper than splashing cash here there and everywhere. If they don't fix the problem then you could return them

mine is quite a harsh rattle, had the airbox off to listen to the injectors and it didnt seem to be them, thinking its the timing belt tensioners at the minute.