Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice?
Tonight after re-starting the car after a 50 odd mile drive the engine sounded very 'tappety'.
I tried blipping the throttle and also restarting it a couple of times but the noise remained. I slowly drove home but on a couple of occasions the oil pressure dropped and the oil pressure and main warning light came on briefly. At that point I parked up as soon as I could (hopefully securely...) checked the oil level, still at a reasonable clear and good level.
I'm at a bit of a loss do you think it would be possible / advisable to drive it the 30 miles over to RPM.

Thanks in advance,

Neil

Which warning light? Low oil pressure or low oil warning. Also when the oil pressure dipped how far. I'd check the oil & coolant levels when cold & restart it & see what happens. Has it had any engine work recently, belts etc. If it is repeated then get it relayed to RPM as it is possible the oil pickup could be cracked. I wouldn't take the risk.

Thanks Jim. Both the red warning light at the bottom of the oil pressure guage and the main (hand brake) warning light came on briefly. I tried again today and it's all the same: low/fluctuating oil pressure but still a lot of noise.

i had a noisy tappet due to oil level towards the low. I topped her up and left her at tick over and it was sorted. I check oil regular now

TBH it needs someone with a master gauge to check whether the sensor has died or it is genuine low oil pressure. Given the noise it could well be low oil pressure & driving it will knacker the bearings. This may mean getting it relayed to a specialist/decent garage.

opps i just re read the post

Think Jim is right & you have low oil pressure or why the noisy tappets. Could be a goosed engine or something simple like a faulty relief valve if your lucky. So don't drive it as Jim says. Mind if it is the engine decent runners can be had for very little at the moment as so many of these are being scrapped. Come back & tell us the verdict & fingers crossed it's an easy fix!

Hi,
Can I jump on the back of this one.

Got my car out of my garage this morning, all OK, parked it on my drive which has a slope “the car was pointing upwards” started it up this evening to put it back in the garage and I was getting a loud tappet noise but no warning lights, checked the oil level and that was fine.

Any suggestions?

No warning lights & decent oil pressure it is probably the tappets having drained down. I've had 2 phone calls from owners in the past few years going "Help, listen to this!" Both times its because the followers have drained out & take their time to refill. The important thing is not to rev the engine too hard as you can impact damage the valve train.

Thanks Jim,

Is it best to start the engine and leave it on tick-over for a bit?

Yup, keep an eye on it & let the fan cycle on/off a few times.

Hi All,

Just to add my pennies worth. My car sounds very tappety on cold start up. By the time I've got the car off the drive and shut the driveway gates, it's usually stopped. I think Jim's right in what he's saying that the tappets can drain down when stood.

I also noticed that my car became more tappety after a few tanks of V power being run through it. Don't know whether thats anything to do with the detergents in the petrol but the car does seem to run better on V Power - less lumpy. No improvement in mpg though but I think thats more down to the driver and over use of the loud pedal

Ben

Where are you buying Vpower? Nobody seems to sell it anymore around here!

Started it up this morning, the little man with the big hammer was tapping away under the bonnet , but after 15 minutes “just on tick-over” he must of drowned in oil as the engine is now sounding sweet as a nut .
Thanks Jim, spot on , after ten minutes I was starting to wonder if it was going to clear.

Yup they do this occasionally dunnno why! It's bl00dy scary when they do though.