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XE tapping?

846 views 22 replies 8 participants last post by  Ben_Copeland 
#1 ·
Hi all,

my xe normally taps for a bit on cold start, guess thats the norm, but recently it will start tapping at random intervals, for no reason, sometimes jus goin round a 30 zone, start tapping, leave it on tickover for 5, and it will go back to normal, or sometimes in a 70 zone, which worries me, cos i dont know if its doin any damage?

have checked oil, and its on the max mark.

any ideas wud b appriciated.

Mark.
 
#3 ·
Both my XE Cav's and my cally have randomly ticked and so does my mates cav XE. Nothing has gone wrong with the head yet on my cally, and nothing went wrong on my cav's. All of these XE are 100k+ miles. Also after an oil change with flush mine ticks like a ******* for a few days at random intervals. If I run my engine on GT magnetec it ticks all the time. I found to stop this from happening on high mileage XE's without changing the lifter's, I use gen vauxhall oil 10/40 and use I bottle of STP oil treatment, the one in the blue bottle, mine only ticks on startup now. I spoken to many people with XE's and they say that when they don't tick start worrying.

Dave M
 
#4 ·
a lifter service will should get them back to normal.

and when they don't make any noise, that's good, not bad! - the ticking is the top of the little plunger inside hitting the underside of the lifter top - due to only being partially pressurised - the little one way valve in the plunger gets gunked up and it takes awhile for it to pressurise and seal - obviously many things influence this - the main one being the oil and what's in it.

when they start ticking on and off when the engine is up to temperature it's really time to have them out and clean them properely.
 
#6 ·
Ok, cheers for the info there, its not doin it all the time, didnt do it at all yesterday, jus random times it will start ticking, then i pull over, idle for 5mins, then it will go away, jus annoyin.

so do i jus whip em out and clean them, or is there sum special tool i need?

cheers.

mark.
 
#9 ·
> Why?

Is just good pratice to repalce the cam belt once its been removed as its been 'used'. All depends how long its been on there and the method you used to remove it. Its up to you, a new cam blet is far cheaper than a failed cam belt and knacked engine.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Topbuzz said:
> Why?

Is just good pratice to repalce the cam belt once its been removed as its been 'used'. All depends how long its been on there and the method you used to remove it. Its up to you, a new cam blet is far cheaper than a failed cam belt and knacked engine.
I know that Alan, it was just a poke at Ben's "Change the cam belt" with him not saying "If it's old" after it. **** if I changed a cam belt every time I took it off I would have spent about £500 on belts in the last 12 months.
 
#20 ·
will ask him next time i see him, mite not b till next week like, but he defo had problems with the cam he got.

also, there was summink sumwhere sayin the used old cams, re profiled them, which wasnt as good as gettin blanks and makin fresh ones, as you will be making the lobes smaller its being reprofiled.

not 100%, but deffo read it sumwhere.
 
#22 ·
16vmantamark said:
will ask him next time i see him, mite not b till next week like, but he defo had problems with the cam he got.

also, there was summink sumwhere sayin the used old cams, re profiled them, which wasnt as good as gettin blanks and makin fresh ones, as you will be making the lobes smaller its being reprofiled.

not 100%, but deffo read it sumwhere.
Yep, quite correct. By re-profiling them the shorten the back of the lobe, this lets the lifter fill with more oil and expand more then the standard bit of the lobe will open the valve earlier.

It is fine if you have solid lifters or decent hydraulic lifters in, but if the lifters are old and worn they won't last long before you will need to replace them.
 
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