Ticking now heard.. after recent oil top up
Discussion
Hi there all
I had recently posted about a clacking sound heard from the cat areas on my 400 chim, thats fine, all understood...
I had occasion to check the oil, and found it to be halfway between MIN and MAX on the dipstick, i duly topped it up, however... i used shell helix synthetic in the abscence of mobil one, i know this is only a small top up, but since ive heard a ticking sound coming from the back of the engine (bulkhead) area, sounds more ticky than tappety, and is causing concern, no particular loss in performance, but i have noticed that sometimes splutters at low revs pulling away It reminds me of a arcing sound i recently experienced on my coupe quattro, changing the dizzy cap sorted this. The chim is now officialy covered and garaged until the 1st Feb when it has its annual service. I just wonder if there is any link between the oil topup??? I know this sounds daft, but i notice the car is much more tappety when i run her on optimax as opposed to 97 Ron... and wondered if using/mixing oil could have detrimental effects.
Cheers in anticipation.. Shorty
I had recently posted about a clacking sound heard from the cat areas on my 400 chim, thats fine, all understood...
I had occasion to check the oil, and found it to be halfway between MIN and MAX on the dipstick, i duly topped it up, however... i used shell helix synthetic in the abscence of mobil one, i know this is only a small top up, but since ive heard a ticking sound coming from the back of the engine (bulkhead) area, sounds more ticky than tappety, and is causing concern, no particular loss in performance, but i have noticed that sometimes splutters at low revs pulling away It reminds me of a arcing sound i recently experienced on my coupe quattro, changing the dizzy cap sorted this. The chim is now officialy covered and garaged until the 1st Feb when it has its annual service. I just wonder if there is any link between the oil topup??? I know this sounds daft, but i notice the car is much more tappety when i run her on optimax as opposed to 97 Ron... and wondered if using/mixing oil could have detrimental effects.
Cheers in anticipation.. Shorty
I also have a 400 and the engine always ticks and rattles. Even after it's service in September when it was given a clean bill of health.
As for the fuel, unless the car is set up to use Optimax and its' 98 RON, then there is likely to be no performance gain over 97 other than the fact that Optimax will clean the internals. BP Ultimate and the new Esso fuel should do the same job.
I actually think my car feels better with Ultimate.
As for the fuel, unless the car is set up to use Optimax and its' 98 RON, then there is likely to be no performance gain over 97 other than the fact that Optimax will clean the internals. BP Ultimate and the new Esso fuel should do the same job.
I actually think my car feels better with Ultimate.
shorty123 said:
Hi there all
I had recently posted about a clacking sound heard from the cat areas on my 400 chim, thats fine, all understood...
I had occasion to check the oil, and found it to be halfway between MIN and MAX on the dipstick, i duly topped it up, however... i used shell helix synthetic in the abscence of mobil one, i know this is only a small top up, but since ive heard a ticking sound coming from the back of the engine (bulkhead) area, sounds more ticky than tappety, and is causing concern, no particular loss in performance, but i have noticed that sometimes splutters at low revs pulling away It reminds me of a arcing sound i recently experienced on my coupe quattro, changing the dizzy cap sorted this. The chim is now officialy covered and garaged until the 1st Feb when it has its annual service. I just wonder if there is any link between the oil topup??? I know this sounds daft, but i notice the car is much more tappety when i run her on optimax as opposed to 97 Ron... and wondered if using/mixing oil could have detrimental effects.
Cheers in anticipation.. Shorty
When i first got my 94 400, I ran my car on 95 octane for a while and it was a bit lumpy - suprise!
I noticed a sticker around the fuel filler that stated 98 octane. This means Shell Optimax. BP Ultimate is 97. Not sure that there will be huge difference to be honest and from reading responses to similar queries in the past, it would seem other owners use different fuels with seemingly little or no detrimental effect. Not sure if more highly tuned engines may suffer a bit more with lower octane fuel use?
Having said that, i think my car runs better on Optimax.
victormeldrew said:
The "tappets" are hydraulic, and pump up with oil. Maybe you overfilled, or used the wrong type of oil.
I had a problem with the oil pickup in the sump once, and you wouldn't beleive how "tappetty" (and expensive) it gets when not enough oil gets to the top end!
This makes sense, i can honestly say the noise appeared after topping up with shell helix synthetic (normally i use mobil 1 as specified)
This seems more than just a coincidence?
PS i meant to say 95 Ron (normal unleaded) rather than 97.
Does anyone else have trouble with engine becoming noisy when running 97 or 98 Ron? I know it specifies this type of fuel on the filler cap, but when i bought the car from Adrian Blyth they said it should run fine on 95 Ron.
Not sure about the noise but I doubt if just topping up with a different brand of oil would in itself cause problems.
On the subject of of fuel. My 93 4 litre is smoother on ordinary unleaded. I also use Redex injector cleaner regularly. Mine was much smoother after I'd used it for the first time.
On the subject of of fuel. My 93 4 litre is smoother on ordinary unleaded. I also use Redex injector cleaner regularly. Mine was much smoother after I'd used it for the first time.
I'm no expert, but I think you need the higher octane fuel (i.e.98) to prevent pre-ignition (pinking) which you get when accelerating. This can cause very serious damage to the engine. I guess that if you use 95 octane you may be alright as long as you don't accelerate very hard - in which case, why have a TVR?
Just a thought.
Have a good Chrissy.
Steve
Just a thought.
Have a good Chrissy.
Steve
The petrol grade required is set by the ignition timing. You could run it on 92 RON petrol if you set the timing appropriately.
Some people service the cars and set the timing at a particular amount of advance. Some people do a test run at a higher advance, check for pinking and then retard the ignition if required.
Ian A.
Some people service the cars and set the timing at a particular amount of advance. Some people do a test run at a higher advance, check for pinking and then retard the ignition if required.
Ian A.
red griff 500 said:
I'm no expert, but I think you need the higher octane fuel (i.e.98) to prevent pre-ignition (pinking) which you get when accelerating. This can cause very serious damage to the engine. I guess that if you use 95 octane you may be alright as long as you don't accelerate very hard - in which case, why have a TVR?
Just a thought.
Have a good Chrissy.
Steve
Absolutely no pre ignition on 95 ron, never have probs with performance, i think its been tuned for this, however i will ask them to check this at the annual service... believe me the car gets driven quite hard too.
Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff