Few Engine noises and more... :(

[bananamana]

Hi guys,
After two beautiful trouble free years of daily driving my Elise S2 K Series I am starting to notice a few developing problems perhaps.
I would be grateful for experienced people to hopefully put my mind to rest or at least prevent a bigger problem.

1. There is a very light tappety noise when listening from outside the car when the car is cold, after warming up it always goes away and the engine always sounds mega healthy when warm.

2. There is white gunk in my coolant tank. I read that white gunk in your OIL could be HGF but I believe there should be some OIL in my COOLANT if I had HGF? Currently the white gunk is in the cooland and there does not seem to be any sign of oil in it.

3. I hear another sort of tappety noise when in the driving position from the engine from the lower part of the engine, I believe this may be related to a very slightly loose aux belt. I believe tightening this belt should solve this.

My main concern at the moment are points 1 & 2.

Thanks

[bananamana]

I just went and checked the oil filler cap its clean!

The coolabnt levels are OK and the oil is also ok.

[piooly]

Only way to be sure of HGF is to nip it down to a place that does MOT's and ask them to sick the Emmisions tester into the coolant tank while the engine is running. It will read how much CO2 is in there. If its high, then you have got HGF. Good thing is you may have caught it very early and will cost less to fix as the head probably wont need skimming.

Only take them a min and they should not charge you...

[S Works]

Tappety noise on start-up could just be the hydraulic followers (IIRC). A dose of flushing oil should sort it out.

[bananamana]

Thanks guys - You know what?

I think I will just book it in tomorrow for a Head Gasket Change anyway. Do you think this would be wise? I want to get the upgraded head gasket, I hope they are bulletproof? This way I can just forget about HGF for good (I hope? )

I can get them to fix all the other stuff too... Guess its about that time to get her ready for summer anyway - I might as well do it properly?

[stuthemong]

A tappy K series? Whatever next!

The gunk is more worrying, but could be a few things. I'd try to clear the gunk out and see if it comes back - if it does, you'll need to get more diag done.

The HG will not sort the tappety noises. To do that would probably need new lifters or something - I really wouldn't worry about a light tappety noise on startup.

Edited by stuthemong on Wednesday 4th February 22:57

[bananamana]

stuthemong said:

A tappy K series? Whatever next!

The gunk is more worrying, but could be a few things. I'd try to clear the gunk out and see if it comes back - if it does, you'll need to get more diag done.

The HG will not sort the tappety noises. To do that would probably need new lifters or something - I really wouldn't worry about a light tappety noise on startup.

Edited by stuthemong on Wednesday 4th February 22:57

Hi - Thank you.

I will clean out the gunk now and cross my fingers. There is no petrol smell in the coolant. This might be a good sign?

What else could it be, now that you mention it?

[kambites]

When a K-series makes strange noises it's called "character", I'll have you know.

Mine sounds like a bag of spanners whether it's cold or hot and always has done, as far as I know. Most of that is the VVC mechanism though.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 5th February 08:58

[lee111s]

kambites said:

When a K-series makes strange noises it's called "character", I'll have you know.

Mine sounds like a bag of spanners whether it's cold or hot and always has done, as far as I know. Most of that is the VVC mechanism though.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 5th February 08:58

I'm a member of this club

[bananamana]

kambites said:

When a K-series makes strange noises it's called "character", I'll have you know.

Mine sounds like a bag of spanners whether it's cold or hot and always has done, as far as I know. Most of that is the VVC mechanism though.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 5th February 08:58

Thanks - Mine is not the VVC.. It is just the standard... I am having my mate look at it now and he will post here in a bit.. he is a general mechanic

[bananamana]

My mate says -

It is more of a lumpy white substance. He says he has seen hundreds of HGF cases (Non Lotus) and this definitly does not look like it.

There doesnt seem to be any petrol whatsoever with the gunk/coolant. The white is pure white and is not tarnished with any other colours...

Maybe it actually is something else?

I always let the car get to 80 before moving it and then always keep it below 2.5 Revs until the magic 87c

EDIT - The white gunk is more fluffy and pure white... Perhaps not HGF? Any other ideas out there?

Edited by bananamana on Thursday 5th February 10:30

[S Works]

Could just be a small accumulation of water vapour - not entirely unusual, especially over winter AFAIK. This could all well be nothing to worry about. Why don't you have your mate give the car a dose of flushing oil, then a full oil change with new filter etc. and see if it goes away?