ticking at idle,tappets possibly?

pugpete1108

Registered User
Joined
May 19, 2009
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
NULL
my 1.8t has developed a ticking at idle which quitens when accelerating but are quieter.

would an oil flush/change help this? or is it something more serious?

its due an oil change anyway so is there a reccommended oil to use?

cheers
pete
 
I would be tempted to do a good flush with 1/4 diesel. It sounds like you oil pump screen is clogged causing starvation at tick over tbh. Std prob for these cars sadly,
 
I would be tempted to do a good flush with 1/4 diesel. It sounds like you oil pump screen is clogged causing starvation at tick over tbh. Std prob for these cars sadly,

what as in diesel fuel? is that safe?

is it difficult to just remove the sump and clean it from there?
 
Depends what tool you have access to, as the subframe needs to be removed, or lowered and the engine supported accordingly to access the sump. The job itself is easy once you have access.

And yes as in diesel fuel, drain off some oil replace with diesel run engine under no load and periodicly rev and hold to 2k revs no more, drop to tick over and repeat for about 10 mins. Drain refil with cheap oil run that through for a few hundred miles, drop that and go full synth. It's a common fix and 85% of the time fixes the problem coupled with regular oil changes afterwards
 
i would make two addendums to that:

1. You can go all the way to using neat diesel instead of oil, and i've done it before with no ill effects, but 50/50 Derv/Oil is probably fine for a starting point. Ideally you want to warm the engine up to operating temperature before draining half the oil out and refilling with derv, its not as effective on a cold engine.

2. If your engine is ropey, i wouldnt let it idle on the derv/oil mix. The thinner the oil is, the lower your oil pressure will be, and on our engine with its dodgy oil pump the pressure will often drop below 1 bar at idle on a hot day with normal engine oil. With some thin oil because its been thinned down with derv, it might get dangerously low. I would suggest using 1500rpm as a minimum, with short 30sec increases to 2k every few minutes, as that way your likely to ensure the pressure stays above 1bar.
Also, dont allow the turbo to spool up at all during the flush. I found using a small thin piece of plastic jammed in the throttle linkage moved the butterfly enough to hold a reasonably fast idle.
 
I would def do a flush but also check your oil pressure too as it my be a problem with your pump.

If you're worried about using diesel to flush you can buy flushing oil.. I always use Comma flushing oil which you use neat in the system and run at temperature then drain.
 
Thats what i used when i got the A4, but a couple litres of diesel is cheaper, and its basically the same stuff.
 
ok cheers will give this a go next week when i'm off.

what oil is reccomended after using cheap oil ?

is it a good idea to do the filter too? i guess it is
 
Yep change the filter with the oil.

I just buy a fully synth oil from the factors, whatever their own brand is, comma/granville/carplan/autocare etc and change it regularly.
 

Similar threads

Replies
34
Views
2K
Replies
18
Views
1K
Replies
13
Views
1K
Replies
3
Views
1K
Replies
3
Views
1K