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MG MGF Technical - Ticking Noise

Travelled to Brum yesterday and my car developed a loud Ticking noise coming from the engine - 1.8 mpi, only done 5500 miles. It is just coming up for it's first service so took it in the dealers to look at and check if it was still OK to drive. They said that it was a couple of noisy Cam followers and that it would be OK for a couple of weeks until the service.

Any one have any experience of this and what is involved to replace them.

Steve
Steve

Cam followers do often lose the oil inside during overnight lay ups. When the engine is restarted the air that has replaced the oil means there is a wider clearance, hence the tapping. After a few minutes of driving, and certainly when the engine warms and oil thins as it heats, the air is purged and the clearances return to normal.

Where a car is little used then extremities of the oil system can see a degree of 'sludging' and this can restrict oil flow. This can then cause the follower to lose oil and not see it replensihed and so become boisy. If the noise is one that develops when the engine is warm and doesn' go away then I would suggest that you have a degree of sludge and this would demand a flush of the oil system to see if it solves the problem.

If it doesn't then replacement of the followers is quite simple, but you have to remove the cams to access, so this means timing belt work too.

I would suggest that if the car is a very low useage car that you double the frequency of oil changes. This will help to reduce sludge development.

Rog
Roger Parker

Roger,

Thanks for the advice, I will start geting the oil changed from now on every six months. As I have only had the car from new for about 10 months, I am suprised that there may be sludge build-up already, the ticking does not go away when warm, in fact it gets worst. At least the work is carried out under warranty

Regards,

Steve
Steve

This thread was discussed between 17/01/2002 and 20/01/2002

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