Otis

I have just purchased my first MY98 turbo and have noticed a rather worrying engine knock/heavy tap when the engine is cold. It goes after about 5 minutes running. The dealer says they all do it - ask any dealer ! So I did and they have asked me to leave the car overnight so they can have a listen. They suspect it will be engine tappets ( is that the right spelling? ) but it sounds a bit more than that to me. Car mileage is 25k, one owner, full service history. PLEASE HELP !!

Giles.Guthrie

Otis,
I had a similar problem. It sounded like a knackered camshaft (ever heard a 130k mile Ford Granada ). I forced the dealer to take the car overnight to listen to it in the morning when it was properly cold. They diagnosed a manufacturing fault on #4 piston. I think it was the water jacket, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, they did a short engine replacement (block, pistons, crank etc) under warranty. It took three days, and I had to pay for the oil, which was a bit of a pain since it was only two months after the 30k service!! The mileage was 22,000 at the time.

Hope that's of some use to you.