Hi,
Ever since ive owned the car (2L 8v) the fuel economy has been pretty woeful. On a run it returned 24mpg. It has had a service including new plugs, oil + filter and cambelt.
When idling there is a loud ticking noise coming from the rear of the engine, over the intake manifold. Im wondering if ive got a sticky injector or something? Is there anything else it could be?
All advice greatly recieved
It should only have one injector in the carb iirc, if it was sticking I should imagine it would idle like a bag of spanners if at all.
Ticking is probably a hydraulic tappet/lifter. Fairly easy to change if your handy with the spanners and easily sourced.
To help source the problem, get a long screw driver(bigger the better) and place it on certain parts of the engine and stick your ear on the handle, whod of thought screwdrivers make great stephoscopes? Poke about until you find the noise at its loudest.
Id try body of the carb, rocker cover and then the cam box, hopefully you will get pointed in the right direction.
Pretty sure it's a C20NE, MPi. Injectors are normal if they tick very fast. Means they're opening and closing as supposed to. I'd go with carlos's advice and listen to the engine itself.
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Hi,
yes sorry its a C20NE. Theres only 1 ticking noise, not 4 which is why i was suspicious of the injector. Its loud, with the bonnet up can be heard about 40feet away. I tried the screwdriver trick just now (listening down it), but i cant find any particular area making the noise. It certainly souds like its intake-side rather than rocker cover. If i pop the cover off and check the clearances, will this show up a problem with the hydraulic lifters?
Ta
Martay wrote:Hi,
yes sorry its a C20NE. Theres only 1 ticking noise, not 4 which is why i was suspicious of the injector. Its loud, with the bonnet up can be heard about 40feet away. I tried the screwdriver trick just now (listening down it), but i cant find any particular area making the noise. It certainly souds like its intake-side rather than rocker cover. If i pop the cover off and check the clearances, will this show up a problem with the hydraulic lifters?
Ta
If it's ticking that loud the cam is probably worn, does the noise increase in speed with engine speed or does it get quieter? If you remove the cam cover you may see the wear in the lobes, checking clearances isn't really possible without the engine running and making a real mess.
"No the temperature gauge doesn't work........
we've driven 150 miles today........
the heater went cold last Thursday........
they check the level when it's serviced don't they?"
If the cam is worn, its quite an easy job to change it.
I love the old 8 valve engines, there so easy to work on.
Try and find a low mileage donor engine, I suspect youd need the cambox as well. No point fiting the cam into your box as you may struggle if its tight or it will flap around and defeat the object.
Hi!
Sorry to nudge this thread, i just thought id update.
I had the rocker cover off to look at the cam. Then i realized i didnt know what i was looking for!! I had a good friend and self confessed vaux nut look at it, and he said it isn't showing excessive wear, but couldn't suggest a source of the noise.
Ive got a short clip of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJxFPCnQYVg
I didnt take any pics of the cam, but i cando if needed.
Thanks everyone
That sounds the same as mine mate that ticking I wouldn't worry about my old mk2 cavalier ticked like that aswell that was a 1.8 "18SE" which is a very similar engine and my C20NE does it to
I would give the engine oil a really good flush out (I need to do mine) and put fresh in in regards to your fuel consumption there's a lot of factors to consider like how well the engine is running the weather temperature tyre pressure road surface etc etc Its worth you running the engine then following all fuel lines and checking there's no leaks from the hose's or any of the joins I'd go as far as getting under and checking your tank etc even the over flow pipes just to be sure and eliminate it all out
I know that the injectors tick on these engines - do you get the same thing on a 1.6 spi as i have the same noise -not intending to hijack this post - was just curious...
Martay wrote:Hi!
Sorry to nudge this thread, i just thought id update.
I had the rocker cover off to look at the cam. Then i realized i didnt know what i was looking for!! I had a good friend and self confessed vaux nut look at it, and he said it isn't showing excessive wear, but couldn't suggest a source of the noise.
Ive got a short clip of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJxFPCnQYVg
I didnt take any pics of the cam, but i cando if needed.
Thanks everyone
Sounds the same as mine, also noticed when you came off the throttle the ticking stopped for a split second which means they are shutting down on over run which is correct. I see you've serviced it, have you checked cap, arm and leads for condition / wear ? Also worth getting injectors professionally reconditioned i had mine done increased mpg by around 6-7. Really great guy sends back a full print out of pre and post performance of each injector and sends back all old filters and caps to prove replacement. I'll post up contact details. Cost me about £60.
As previously mentioned i would check for leaks as that is a very low figure for an 8v. I was getting 29 running about and 40+ on a run (drive like a grandad though ) pipe from tank to pump is a prime candidate they go porus, run your hand along it if it gets covered in black like tar rubbish it's pooped.
Agreed, I though you said it rattled really loud, lol.
Something else is causing the high fuel consumption
"No the temperature gauge doesn't work........
we've driven 150 miles today........
the heater went cold last Thursday........
they check the level when it's serviced don't they?"
I fear the cause of the low MPG's is my right foot
I will get a set of injectors from the scrappy to roll on while i send mine away for cleaning. Will have to wait till i get paid though It had a new cap and rotor when it was serviced, the leads are good.
On mine it seems that the injectors make most of the noise up front! Definately worth checking fuel pipes - they go hard after this length of time, worse one I found was the covered one on the fuel pump. I replaced mine with a genuine Vauxhall pipe which did exactly the same after about 3 years! You wont always see a leak as it evaporates quickly.
I have always found fuel economy to be very good, always getting 40 mpg and once on a 'trial' back from Newcastle I achieved 52! not crawling along either
I had to make a small adjustment to the air mass meter mixture adjustment recently as consumption dropped to about 37 which restored normal running, think it might be sticking/sluggish in operation?
alanw wrote: You wont always see a leak as it evaporates quickly.
Ah, you might not see it....but you'll sure as hell smell it!
"No the temperature gauge doesn't work........
we've driven 150 miles today........
the heater went cold last Thursday........
they check the level when it's serviced don't they?"
Your tick isn't by any chance a small blow in the exhaust manifold gasket? they can sometimes produce similar noises. Either that or a failed hydraulic tappet, I've been running 2ltr 8v's for 10 years or more now and i've never had an injector you can hear tick at 40ft! Mostly you struggle to hear them with the bonnet shut! Steve
Carledo wrote: i've never had an injector you can hear tick at 40ft! Mostly you struggle to hear them with the bonnet shut! Steve
I think we have established from the video posted above that it's the injectors............and Martay has very big ears!
"No the temperature gauge doesn't work........
we've driven 150 miles today........
the heater went cold last Thursday........
they check the level when it's serviced don't they?"
alanw wrote: You wont always see a leak as it evaporates quickly.
Ah, you might not see it....but you'll sure as hell smell it!
A very very true comment there because I can smell fuel in my cav sometimes and have traced all fuel pipes but the ones under the back seat (fuel pump in tank late spec?) Anyway I can't find a single pipe leaking but I sure can smell fuel especially when the tank is getting low so when funds will allow I will prob try an blitz all pipes an replace them all
When I had my mk2 cav there was two pipes that went on a very regular basis they were located on the fuel rail inbetween two of the curved tubes on the inlet manifold I've noticed on the mk3 there is only one pipe there.
) pipe from tank to pump is a prime candidate they go porus, run your hand along it if it gets covered in black like tar rubbish it's pooped.
It had a new cap and rotor when it was serviced, the leads are good.