Here is what happened today. What would you do next?

Posted by patgreen On 2011/8/28 17:13:21

Went for a drive in the country today; roughly a hundred miles of here and there in the bushes.

At roughly 40 miles, I started getting nasty tappet noise from what I think was one tappet. At the first opportunity (about 5-10 MILES) stopped for gas and added oil to overfill, at least a pint over, although oil was pretty much full.

Noise went away for five to ten miles or so, then returned like a bad dream, so we turned around and headed home on a 25-35 mph road. At one point got up to a sustained 55 and the noise disappeared, so I slipped over to the tollway and zipped home for some 25 miles or so. Noise came back towards the end of this segment, so I went on home and parked it.

If I let my oil get down at all, I hear many hungry tappets; this time I just heard one which faded in and out.

Oil is frsh; has perhaps 100 miles on it. Rotella 10-40 plus ZDP additive. New filter. No visible pressure guage problems...according to the guages pressure varied from 11 to 1 oclok, depending on speed. Oil pump is not original, it has been fixed/upgraded to what it should be.

In the past I have occasionally had a nois tappet which usually quiets up in a few miles. I have been told that typically this means crud in the tappet which works its way out....FWIW.

What would you do next?

It's now several hours later. I went out to put it in the garage. Started very ladylike with no noise for that 50 foot trip.