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Lotus in the Peak
28th - 30th June 2024

K Series - Noisy Tapets


nordberg

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My car was last on the road over two years ago and had recently had an engine transplant due to the failure of the original unit. The new engine had noisy hydraulic tapets, which, due to the driver/engine proximity and a distinct lack off soundproofing was about as annoying as an annoying thing could get. I took it back to the garage and the tapets out of my old engine were transferred to the new unit but it didn't resolve it. I have been told that it's not an issue having noisy tapets as far as the health of the engine is concerned.

 

Has anybody on here had this issue before and is it true that it's not going to give me bigger issues later on if I don't get it sorted?

 

As always, any feedback much appreciated :-)

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A few thoughts, if you give it a real good thrashing after getting it warm it sometimes solves this issue. Failing that i think you can find the culprit by removing the cam cover and seeing which tappets you can compress. I doubt it will be more than one or two.

 

I have never tried this. It might be worth an email to DVA or KiwiRog to ask for the correct method of checking them. It should just be a case of changing the dodgy one / ones.

 

Edit, a few more thoughts. Hydraulic tappets will drain down if left for an extended period. The oil is fed via the oilways between the cam ladder and the head top. if you put too much / the wrong sealant on this will cause a problem by blocking some or all of the oilways.

 

You need to use the correct small amount of sealant. The correct sealant is disolvable by oil when not between mating surfaces. Im not saying its been done wrong but it could be the problem if they are know good tappets.

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Are you sure its tappets? The VVC can be a rattly old bugger of a unit but its not particularly detrimental to it. Could just be the VVC which will rattle a tad about 5k after its been fully rebuilt.

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Thanks for the feedback.

 

As far as the engine is concerned it was sorted by Gav at Unit 4 (Fitted new unit and changed head gasket for later type). I have heard good things about his work and along with his Lotus background I feel that he would have done a top job. However, if some sealant has found its way into one of the oil capillaries then it makes sense that it would result in an oil starved tappet which i guess could be an issue later on in the engines life.

 

martin is right...my engine is a standard K-Series and not a VVC.

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