noises from engine! help!

[johnsams]

i'm getting some rattly
sounding noises from the right hand side under the bonnet where all the belts are, i wondered what could be causing that...


its just it ruins the nice purr on my new backbox... + i'm worried somethings gone wrong down there!


thanks

 

[joesouthgate]

how loud is the rattle, nothing to do with timing chain?

 

[johnsams]

it's not that loud, but loud enough to notice when stopped...

excuse my ignorance but i don't know what a timing chain is so honestly dont have a clue, but its defo coming from that area...

could it be anything serious?


she still drives fine though...
apart from the clutch being sloppy as always...

 

[joesouthgate]

timing chain basicly keeps the valves opening at the right time to let air/fuel into the engine.
Alot of K11s have "timing chain rattle" which is nothing to serious and is quite common on high mileage engine.

 

[andy750]

could be the timing chain even though it's not very often people have problems with them. if the timing chain breaks then it could be very exspensive to fix so i would definatly go and get it checked out.

 

[sonic]

Nearly all high milage K11s (100,000 miles +) have a rattly timing chain, they can break though causing lots of damage, so if you're in any doubt as to its condition then get it checked out.

 

[Robb]

My '99 1.0 had a rattle like you say especially when cold. I flogged it but it did it for at least 2 years before.

 

[johnsams]

i checked out the engine now its stopped raining today, and did some of the regular checks.. noticed the engine oil was horribly low so topped up abit, no sign of significant leaking though oil change hasn't been done since i got the car...

the is a buildup of thick black oily gunk on the left hand side of the engine though (above the belts) :/

 

[ollie240585]

The cam chain tensioner works by the oil pressure.

Also the cam chain will be louder when cold due to it takeing a few minutes for the cam chain tensioner to work.

 

[hughes_16v]

.

the is a buildup of thick black oily gunk on the left hand side of the engine though (above the belts) :/

Sounds like the breather hose area, probably nothing to worry about.

Get the oil changed if its looking in poor condition.

 

[mc mart]

its most probley the chain how many miles the car done ??

 

[johnsams]

its most probley the chain how many miles the car done ??

the car has done 116000+



if i get the oil filter and oil changed will that improve the situation then... ?


i topped it up today, and it is within normal level (enough to flush all the crap out when i get round to changing it )but still quite black...

any recommendations on oil type(mineral or some other fancy thing?) or oil filter to get? or doesn't it make a difference

 

[sonic]

Fully synthetic is a better choice of oil, fresh oil and a filter change does quieten the engine down a bit.

 

[mc mart]

i would get an engine flush first then go for some castrol magnex its expensive but will quiten down the noise a bit should clean out the old engine oil
i would use any oil fillter wont make a diffrence

 

[hughes_16v]

Fully synthetic is a better choice of oil, fresh oil and a filter change does quieten the engine down a bit.

I found fully synthetic made my engine more chattery back in the day micra days, dont know if that was just me though.

Id probably be going for 15w40 semi synthetic with a high miler but thats just me.