MK1 GTI Cabby making awful ticking noise, please help!

Hey,

First post, go easy!

I'm getting an awful ticking like sound come from my MK1 GTI 1.8 K-Jet that seems to get worse with revs.

I have noticed it a couple of times in the past but seemed to have gone within a minute of start up, but now doesn't stop!

This is my first project golf, but i'm not afraid of doing some DIY if it's nothing too drastic!

A Youtube link of the sound: - YouTube

As a little background:

Cambelt & Water pump replaced last month

Air filter & Fuel filter replaced last week.

Oil change roughly 900 miles ago.

Any help at all would be appreciated!

Mine sounded something like that when I got it. We eventually traced it to a cracked manifold and a poorly seated downpipe.

Bad Petrol, Timing, and Add a cup or 2 of Lucas oil Stabilizer to the oil…
all Come to mind.

Hydraulic or standard lifters?  

low oil pressure is another…

Briano1234 said

Bad Petrol, Timing, and Add a cup or 2 of Lucas oil Stabilizer to the oil…
all Come to mind.

Hydraulic or standard lifters?  

low oil pressure is another…

Will need to take a look at the timing, will need to find some of that Oil Stabilizer here in the UK, never heard of it before but looks helpful!.

Teehee: That idea came to mind, but hopefully it's something else! if i run out of Idea's i'll be taking her down to the local VW specialist to take a look!  

hi there sounds like the bottom end bearing , my 1.8 gti had the same noise , not just as loud as that but got louder when reved up, i took the sump of and pulled the big end caps of no3 piston bearing was beat, if i was you i would take the sump of and check your bearing  1 by1 ,

I recon it tappets, what make of oil filter did you use and what type of oil did you use?

What's the mileage on the engine and how old are the tappets?

It normal to hear the hydraulic tappets when the engine is cold and the oil is old or tappets old and normally they quieten down after a rev and let the revs drop or a couple of minutes, is the noise you are now hearing the same noise as you heard before and is it coming from the head or is it different and coming from somewhere else?

Why was the water pump changed with the cam belt? These are old engines and the water pump is run from the alternator belt and bolted to the front of the engine so easily changed with out the need to touch the cambelt or remove any covers. Did a garage do that for you and advised a new water pump at the same time?

mark1gls said

I recon it tappets, what make of oil filter did you use and what type of oil did you use?

What's the mileage on the engine and how old are the tappets?

It normal to hear the hydraulic tappets when the engine is cold and the oil is old or tappets old and normally they quieten down after a rev and let the revs drop or a couple of minutes, is the noise you are now hearing the same noise as you heard before and is it coming from the head or is it different and coming from somewhere else?

Why was the water pump changed with the cam belt? These are old engines and the water pump is run from the alternator belt and bolted to the front of the engine so easily changed with out the need to touch the cambelt or remove any covers. Did a garage do that for you and advised a new water pump at the same time?

Oil change was done by the previous owner just before I bought it, checked the oil and looks nice and clean still, but he didn't tell me what he used, I have an oil change in mind for the summer months for my own ease of mind.

My dad had a listen, and while he's not too mechanically sound he mentioned the tappets, do you have a link to a guide on how to check/fix them?

The noise i'm hearing is definitely the same as what was happening before, but just louder and faster.

Pump was daffodil water and cambelt was due, so I changed them at the same just for convenience.

I've got a timing light arriving sometime today and a distributor cap/rotor as they're not in the best shape, hoping it is something as simple as the timing, if not I might have to take it in somewhere, I don't want to as I bought this car to do as much of it as possible myself!

I would change the oil and oil filter for a good quality filter.

Mann or genuine VW are the best filter to use.

Euro car parts do have lots of discount codes all the time so make sure you use them and either get free delivery or click and collect, for some reason Euro will not do the discount if you just turn up in the shop and buy stuff over the counter!

http://www.eurocarparts.com/oil-filter

http://www.vwspares.co.uk/g1filters.php


Oil I use.

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Volkswagen_Golf+Cabriolet_1.8_1989/p/car-accessories/engine-oils-and-car-fluids/engineoils/10w40-engine-oil/?521776011&0&cc5_245

The oil VW would use if you took the car to them.
AVS Car Parts

Eurocarparts sister company, home delivery only but again it's free.

http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/oil-filter

http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4l/c/Volkswagen_Golf+Cabriolet_1.8_1989/p/accessories-engine-oil/engine-oils/engine-oil/10w40-engine-oil/?521776011&0&cc5_245

carparts4less are usually cheaper the Euro unless they have a good sale on.

Dont forget a new sump washer.

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Volkswagen_Golf+Cabriolet_1.8_1989/p/car-parts/engine-parts1/engine-parts/sump-pans-and-sump-plug/?333771291&1&47c8751ced189bff5450784e05f1acd1b6276fd2&000567

http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4l/c/Volkswagen_Golf+Cabriolet_1.8_1989/p/car-parts/engine-parts1/engine-parts/sump-pans-and-sump-plug/?333771291&1&47c8751ced189bff5450784e05f1acd1b6276fd2&000567

I've had a problem with noisy tappets twice in 25 years after changing the oil as there was a problem with oil filter, I removed the oil filter and then fitted a new one which I filled with fresh oil and the noise went away.

If the noise is still there you have not lost any thing as making sure you have the right oil in is important.

 

mark1gls said

I would change the oil and oil filter for a good quality filter.

Mann or genuine VW are the best filter to use.

Euro car parts do have lots of discount codes all the time so make sure you use them and either get free delivery or click and collect, for some reason Euro will not do the discount if you just turn up in the shop and buy stuff over the counter!

http://www.eurocarparts.com/oil-filter

http://www.vwspares.co.uk/g1filters.php


Oil I use.

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Volkswagen_Golf+Cabriolet_1.8_1989/p/car-accessories/engine-oils-and-car-fluids/engineoils/10w40-engine-oil/?521776011&0&cc5_245

The oil VW would use if you took the car to them.
AVS Car Parts

Eurocarparts sister company, home delivery only but again it's free.

http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/oil-filter

http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4l/c/Volkswagen_Golf+Cabriolet_1.8_1989/p/accessories-engine-oil/engine-oils/engine-oil/10w40-engine-oil/?521776011&0&cc5_245

carparts4less are usually cheaper the Euro unless they have a good sale on.

Dont forget a new sump washer.

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Volkswagen_Golf+Cabriolet_1.8_1989/p/car-parts/engine-parts1/engine-parts/sump-pans-and-sump-plug/?333771291&1&47c8751ced189bff5450784e05f1acd1b6276fd2&000567

http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4l/c/Volkswagen_Golf+Cabriolet_1.8_1989/p/car-parts/engine-parts1/engine-parts/sump-pans-and-sump-plug/?333771291&1&47c8751ced189bff5450784e05f1acd1b6276fd2&000567

I've had a problem with noisy tappets twice in 25 years after changing the oil as there was a problem with oil filter, I removed the oil filter and then fitted a new one which I filled with fresh oil and the noise went away.

If the noise is still there you have not lost any thing as making sure you have the right oil in is important.

 

Thanks for the advice man, did the timing today, and while it was off and the engine sounds better, the sound didn't go…

Going to click and collect some oil and a filter tomorrow and do a change, hopefully will solve the problem!

Also thanks for the discount tip for eurocarparts, saved £10 of the £30 order!! Will remember that for the future!

I hope it does help with your problem, I'm just writing what I would do if I had your problem.
If no better then I would look at the oil pressure sensors and check oil pressure.
What mileage has the tappets done? Mine lasted about 100,000 miles before giving trouble so I fitted a new set. The last set I worked on when reconditioning my current engine I took apart and cleaned out all the old black oil, socked them in engine degreaser to a couple of days the cleaned and re oiled them. Easier and less time consuming to just buy new ones but worth seeing how they work and say "I did that.."

There is a few guides on YouTube to getting the hydraulic tappets cleaned out if you want to see what's involved.

Just another thought…

What type of fuel are you using?
If using normal unleaded it's a different set up on the timing compared to super unleaded petrol.
Listen out for any "pinking" noise under acceleration, may be a bit hard at the moment with noisy tappets, so worry about that later.

The engine is meant to run on 98RON petrol (super unleaded)
Normal unleaded petrol is 95RON so the timing is retarded 6 degrees to compensate the lower quality petrol.

I find mine runs better on superleaded after trying a year on normal unleaded petrol.

Did the oil change and didn't fix the ticking, although the engine does sound better in general, the oil inside was pure black, got a feeling I was told a fib by the previous owner!

As far as i know the Tappets haven't been changed, and the car is on 130,000+ miles, so I will find a guide and take a look at them sometime in the coming weeks, and hopefully it will solve the problem!

To answer your question, I only use Super Unleaded, learnt that lesson with my MKV!

Got a cheap timing light, and setup the timing to the diamond mark, but ran terrible! Found a red dot on the flywheel and matched it to that and is much better, but still idles low (around 700 - 800) and the ticking is still there, and that is with a new distributor cap too. When revving the timing mark moves clockwise, is this normal? Or should the timing mark stay there regardless?

Thanks for all your help again.

Noodles193 said

Got a feeling I was told a fib by the previous owner!

Often heard, Often mentioned, was he a snake oil salesman? He didn't offer you a Bridge over the Thames too did he?  

 

Briano1234 said

Noodles193 said

Got a feeling I was told a fib by the previous owner!

Often heard, Often mentioned, was he a snake oil salesman? He didn't offer you a Bridge over the Thames too did he?  

 

Nothing as bad as that no!

He was very genuine with a few of the problems it had, not all of them though as along with the oil I also noticed that the hood frame is in very bad condition, and the passenger side doesn't open from the outside!.

You need to remove and plug up the vacuum pipe at the dissy to set up the timing. That vacuum hose advances the timing when you rev the car that is why it moves when you rev it.