Hello,

We have an old (1998) Ford KA that is used as a spare family car, a town run around kind of thing. For about a month or so now I've noticed that if it goes a day or two without use then on start-up and the first few minutes of driving there is a clicking sound that increases with revs. Once it's warmed up the sound seems to go and everything is fine, seems a bit groggy on start up as well but that may just be because it's old.

Any ideas mechanically what this is and how much it could cost to fix (would it be worth it?).

Regards

I thought the exact same thing. I just sold my Focus and It was making the same noises in the same manor.

My power steering fluid was completely empty due to a leak, fixed the pipe and filled up the reservoir again and that noise seemed to go away. This however might have been just a coincidence and I'd stopped noticing the noise. Worth checking though.

From what I recall of my wife's old Ka, the tappets are adjustable on the Ka. It is a relatively straightforward job. You'll need a set of feeler gauges, some spanners and probably a new rocker cover gasket (or just ask a garage to make the adjustments).

Yep, the tappets need re-setting.

We seemed to do them every other week on my mate's old Fiesta!

Up until about 2002 the engine in the KA has routes back to the old Kent engine from the 50s, it's not modern by any stretch!

The KA Endura engine does have mechanical tappets, there are many guides available online.

Yep, as I posted, they changed to the Duratec around 2002.

The usual wild-guess replies to a technical question on GG!!

So, for the correct answer: Yes, a Ka of this era has 'tappets'. It also has fekkin great big pushrods 'cos it's essentially a Kent engine from the 1960s. No OHC here, no sir!

They're well-known for rattling like mad (esp. when cold) but at least this means that the valve-clearances are too big rather than too tight, which would be a bad thing.

Adjust them at your leisure, put up with the rattling, or turn the radio up. I would do the latter.

Thanks for the replies guys, mind at ease.

So would it be fine driving it around town (rarely goes above 30mph), until its next trip to a garage sometime later in the year?

Mines been making the same noise for the last 18 months, it sounds like sticky tappets to me.
Try using the Wynns tappet treatment as someone has already mentioned but for the best results it needs to put in after a fresh oil change.
I think it only costs £8 from halfords, so even if it doesn't work you haven't wasted a great deal of money.
The reason I haven't done mine yet is because I'm waiting to get a new mot and service done and won't put it in till I've got some fresh oil in the car as I'm too tight to waste 8 quid lol.
Also if you have the old Kent, endura, ohv engine in your car then they do rattle a bit once they have done a few miles, as they need readjusting once in awhile, I think there's a sticker on the rocker cover with the info you need.
It's a very old engine design it was first used in Stevenson's rocket.