Pistonhead banging...

Pistonhead banging...

Author
Discussion

blatch

Original Poster:

138 posts

261 months

Wednesday 28th January 2004
quotequote all
Ok last night I removed the bonnet (that was a job in itself on your own! ) and sorted various squeaks, but there is a rather loud "clicking" coming from inside the engine head (the bit with "Speed 6" written on it) it sounds a bit like clicking your fingers.

When you rev the engine the sound increases frequency, so I'm assuming it's something piston related? Car runs fine otherwise...

Anybody had a similar issue?

jigs

1,840 posts

265 months

Wednesday 28th January 2004
quotequote all
Finger followers?

matt_c

186 posts

260 months

Wednesday 28th January 2004
quotequote all
Agree with Jigs... sounds very much like a valvetrain issue.

blatch

Original Poster:

138 posts

261 months

Wednesday 28th January 2004
quotequote all
matt_c said:
Agree with Jigs... sounds very much like a valvetrain issue.


Any ideas how to resolve this? ie: can it be done by moi, a local garage, or is it a TVR specialist job?

_DJ_

4,977 posts

269 months

Wednesday 28th January 2004
quotequote all
Speed6 = TVR (pretty much, though it's getting better). Certainly your average mechanic is unlikely to be able to get the necessary parts, and you've no chance!

DJ

>> Edited by _DJ_ on Wednesday 28th January 11:13

GI Jnr

1,903 posts

276 months

Wednesday 28th January 2004
quotequote all
It could be that your engine just happens to be a "noisy" one. Both my first Tusc and my brothers' (both 2000) sounded like a tractor all of the time, but both were completely fine.

Our 2003 one however, sounds completely different and a lot less "mechanical"

But I'm no engineer...
Tuan

blatch

Original Poster:

138 posts

261 months

Wednesday 28th January 2004
quotequote all
_DJ_ said:
Speed6 = TVR (pretty much, though it's getting better). Certainly your average mechanic is unlikely to be able to get the necessary parts, and you've no chance!

DJ

>> Edited by _DJ_ on Wednesday 28th January 11:13


OK I admit, was not really considering fixing it myself! But I do know an above average mechanic who can get parts from TVR. Looks like it's going back in hibernation then!

blatch

Original Poster:

138 posts

261 months

Wednesday 28th January 2004
quotequote all
GI Jnr said:
It could be that your engine just happens to be a "noisy" one. Both my first Tusc and my brothers' (both 2000) sounded like a tractor all of the time, but both were completely fine.

Our 2003 one however, sounds completely different and a lot less "mechanical"

But I'm no engineer...
Tuan


GI Jnr how different was the 2003 Tusc compared to the 2000? I'm considering the same jump...

matt_c

186 posts

260 months

Wednesday 28th January 2004
quotequote all
If I could get parts from TVR then I'd do the job myself, but I design V8 engines as a job....!

Alf Essex

1,467 posts

276 months

Wednesday 28th January 2004
quotequote all
[quote=blatch]
[quote=GI Jnr]It could be that your engine just happens to be a "noisy" one. Both my first Tusc and my brothers' (both 2000) sounded like a tractor all of the time, but both were completely fine.

Our 2003 one however, sounds completely different and a lot less "mechanical"

Well I'm no engineer either but the 2003 cars have different 'heads' then the older versions (redesigned). This has increased reliability 'big time' and all the 2003 cars that I know of (including mine) have been very reliable. There will no doubt be people on here who will criticise this but this comes from Tuscan/sp6 owners directly who should know better then anyone else I guess

Alan.

T88CAN

3,474 posts

272 months

Wednesday 28th January 2004
quotequote all
All to easy to say Finger followers i`m afraid it IS a known concern however if the car is running sweetly and not misfirering i`d go for tappet adjustment, plus dont forget the colder the engine the noisier the valve train How many miles has the car done? whats the history? i.e when were the tappets last checked? Rebuilds? either way a quick drive to your local friendly TVR specialist is the next step Tony

andyvdg

1,537 posts

298 months

Wednesday 28th January 2004
quotequote all
I find the nearer you put your ear to the engine, the louder the noise it makes! Put the bonnet back on and if you're worried get the dealer to check it out. If it really is a follower problem in my experience it will sound like a jack hammer from about 5 yards away. Completely unmistakable. All speed 6 engines sound a little tappety so it could be that.

Cheers,

Andy.

Mr Freefall

2,323 posts

273 months

Thursday 29th January 2004
quotequote all
blatch said:
Ok last night I removed the bonnet (that was a job in itself on your own! ) and sorted various squeaks, but there is a rather loud "clicking" coming from inside the engine head (the bit with "Speed 6" written on it) it sounds a bit like clicking your fingers.

When you rev the engine the sound increases frequency, so I'm assuming it's something piston related? Car runs fine otherwise...

Anybody had a similar issue?



I had this on mine. The clicking is the timing bearing collapsing. DO NOT DRIVE THE CAR. Its back to the Factory or to Power for a re-build I'm afraid. This happened 1100 miles after my rebuild from Power. They have to drop the engine to get at the bearings inside. Good new is that the head does not have to come off so you don’t need to run the engine in for 1000 miles, But I recon while they have the engine out they may have the head off and be nosey...

Really hope this is not the case for you, as you would have your car for about 6-8 weeks....

Gook luck


>> Edited by Mr Freefall on Thursday 29th January 02:24

blatch

Original Poster:

138 posts

261 months

Thursday 29th January 2004
quotequote all
T88CAN said:
All to easy to say Finger followers i`m afraid it IS a known concern however if the car is running sweetly and not misfirering i`d go for tappet adjustment, plus dont forget the colder the engine the noisier the valve train How many miles has the car done? whats the history? i.e when were the tappets last checked? Rebuilds? either way a quick drive to your local friendly TVR specialist is the next step Tony


It's covered just under 18,000 miles and had a rebuild in 2001 (had all the 2002 upgrades etc) with the previous owner. The car runs absolutely fine otherwise...hope it's not too drastic!

blatch

Original Poster:

138 posts

261 months

Thursday 29th January 2004
quotequote all
Mr Freefall said:

blatch said:
Ok last night I removed the bonnet (that was a job in itself on your own! ) and sorted various squeaks, but there is a rather loud "clicking" coming from inside the engine head (the bit with "Speed 6" written on it) it sounds a bit like clicking your fingers.

When you rev the engine the sound increases frequency, so I'm assuming it's something piston related? Car runs fine otherwise...

Anybody had a similar issue?




I had this on mine. The clicking is the timing bearing collapsing. DO NOT DRIVE THE CAR. Its back to the Factory or to Power for a re-build I'm afraid. This happened 1100 miles after my rebuild from Power. They have to drop the engine to get at the bearings inside. Good new is that the head does not have to come off so you don’t need to run the engine in for 1000 miles, But I recon while they have the engine out they may have the head off and be nosey...

Really hope this is not the case for you, as you would have your car for about 6-8 weeks....

Gook luck


>> Edited by Mr Freefall on Thursday 29th January 02:24


I hope this is not the problem, and as for not driving it...oops. I started back to Canterbury from London last night and was caught in the snow storm, 4 hours later and much back end sliding I finally managed to get it into the garage! Most dodgy drive ever.

whitey

2,508 posts

299 months

Thursday 29th January 2004
quotequote all
A broken finger follower sounds like a loud ticking noise, the valve train is naturally noisy, perhaps "clicky" sounding...

If you drove it for 4 hours it's obviously running ok, but I would get it to a dealer ASAP for peace of mind.

good luck.

Whitey

blatch

Original Poster:

138 posts

261 months

Thursday 29th January 2004
quotequote all
whitey said:
A broken finger follower sounds like a loud ticking noise, the valve train is naturally noisy, perhaps "clicky" sounding...

If you drove it for 4 hours it's obviously running ok, but I would get it to a dealer ASAP for peace of mind.

good luck.

Whitey


What exactly is a broken finger follower? The symptons seem to match, just not sure what this is, where it's located etc. Will be taking it to the shop Saturday anyway...thanks.

graham66

850 posts

299 months

Friday 30th January 2004
quotequote all
Blatch, get it checked out by a dealer, it could be one of many things:

Finger Followers (these are the bit at the top of the engine that push the valves open) - back to the factory to fix as getting the parts out of TVR is, allegedly, not easy/quick

Timing Bearing: - see below

Valves out of adjustment - TVR use shims to adjust the gap for the valves opening and closing, adjustment is time consuming but cheap

Valve shims have been known to flatten, this sound terrible and the car runs rough as a badgers rear end (as the valves aren't opening enough) so if the car is running OK it is unlikely to be this - cure is the same as adjustment, they replace the flattened shim with a decent one

Valves sinking in to heads - this was a VERY early problem (as in Cerbera Speed Six days before the Tuscan) but can heppen, this is head replacement territory, but fortunately VERY unlikely given the rebuild in 2001

It could also be that the engine is louder than you are expecting - I know my engine always sounds awful from cold particularly when it hasn't been driven for a while (you forget what it sounds like, not that it is any worse) but once warmed up all sounds OK again (and the memories come flooding back!!)

Hope it is nothing expensive, but get it checked, it is difficult to diagnose an engine sound without hearing it - what is loud thumping to one person is only slight ticking to another!!

Graham

jigs

1,840 posts

265 months

Friday 30th January 2004
quotequote all
It could be a tickin' or then again it might be a turkey!

graham66

850 posts

299 months

Saturday 31st January 2004
quotequote all
Jigs, what is wrong? Here I am writing about Tuscan engine issues and you turned down the opportunity to post a reply about how often they break???

Oh hang on, A Turkey, yes I get it now.....

Graham