Cold start rattle and tick-tick-tick-tick...

[trippytipo]

Hi Guys,

Sheesh - my Alfa maintenance questions never seem to cease do they? Recently she's developed a new love for rattling on cold starts which go away within a couple of minutes of the car warming up. The sound appears to be coming from behind the engine.

The other related (or unrelated) noise problem would be this constant soft tick-tick-tick sound that occurs randomly while driving, though I'm only able to hear it when I'm stationary at the lights. It appears to be coming from the driver's side of the engine bay. It doesn't happen all the time though.

I spoke to the lord mechanic about these problems a few weeks ago and he suggested the hydraulic lifters could either be clogged or on their way out and suggested an engine flush and an oil change. I did all that, the problem was gone for two days and appeared again.

Anything I can do before going the expensive route of replace the hydraulic lifters, and more importantly, am I damaging the engine by driving her in this state?  There is no loss of performance, if I may add.

She's presently running on Penrite HPR 10 fully synthetic (10w50).

Thanks heaps for your invaluable advice, gentlemen.

[colcol]

Make sure your oil filter has been changed, on the V-6, they are hard to get at, part of the power steering pump has to be removed to get at it, if its clogged, it could be circulating dirty oil through the motor, and the rubbish can clog up the lifters causing them not to work properly, not bleeding down and  causing a tick-tick sound, as there is no cushioning, make sure your oil is the right viscosity for that engine, as for 156's, they vary, Colin.

[colcol]

Another tick-tick-tick noise could be the serpentine belt starting to come apart, if it is, very soon it will be flap-flap-flap, as the threads and rubber begin to part ways, as the belt spins around it will hit all the covers, look on right hand side of engine bay for shards of rubber, Colin.

[trippytipo]

Thanks for your replies, Colin.

The serpentine belt was changed when I did the timing belt and related bits on the engine about 4 months ago.

The recommended specification for that oil is either 10W-40 or 10W-60 so I think the viscosity of my current oil (already changed twice in 4 months) of 10W-50 should be alright.

The cold start rattle doesn't have every morning - only really cold ones (i.e. <10 degrees). The tick-tick-tick-tick sound happens every time I drive, but occurs randomly.

My theory is (and please correct me if I'm not making sense) -  I acquired the car earlier this year and the previous owner always serviced at LD using Selenia Racing 10W-60, which is a semi-synthetic. Now according to the log-books, it had only been serviced every 20,000 km for the last 60,000 km (i.e. thrice). I think that's too long a time to be keeping oil in the engine, particularly something that is not fully synthetic.

Fast-forward to my ownership, and an immediate service with a fully-synthetic - the oil cleans out all the gunk inside the engine and some of it gets stuck on the hydraulic lifters.

I think regular oil changes (3 monthly or 5,000 km) should eventually fix this and it might actually just be cheaper to rebuild the top-end of the engine to replace the lifters and do a clean-up somewhere down the track, rather than keep going back to the mechanic to take things apart to investigate.

Your thoughts please. Cheers.

[GTA539]

Have you read this topic? My V6 does the same thing. Nothing to worry about.

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-gta/163349-147-gta-with-a-strange-ticking-noise.html

[bix]

I think regular oil changes (3 monthly or 5,000 km) should eventually fix this and it might actually just be cheaper to rebuild the top-end of the engine to replace the lifters and do a clean-up somewhere down the track, rather than keep going back to the mechanic to take things apart to investigate.

If the gunk build up is in fact the root cause, you could use an engine flush to prove/disprove your theory. http://www.nulon.com.au/products/Engine_Treatments/Engine_Oil_Flush/#.T_6un8Xmd8E