Hi

Ok, I have just had my car back from the garage after blowing the engine on it. And i'm really not happy. The engine noise is ridiculous. I've had so many people comment on how loud it is and that if it was them, and they'd just spent £5k on a rebuild they would not be happy. Seriously, it sounds like a skeleton havine a w**k in a biscuit tin.

When i picked up the car last saturday he said to me that it's making the loud tapping noise because it's got hydraulic tappets as i'm using legacy heads. But it never made that noise before when they were on the old engine.

I'm really upset, becaue i've spent £5k and the car sounds like crap.

Help me, where do i stand? and what should i do.

 

Hi,

I would first take it back and say that you are not happy with the noise that the car is making and ask them to investigate the noise. Any garage with any customer service at all should take the car back in and check it over , I presume you have got some kind of warrenty for the work carried out ??.
If that does not work then I would pay for an independant inspection to be done, and present the report to the garage. If the response is still not satisfactory then it would be worth talking to trading standards and ask there advise also.

Good luck

 

Someone said it could be piston slap cause it's got forged pistons fitted to it. but i'm not sure on that one

 

It'll surprise u

 

It can happen; as I'm sure the engine would have been thouroughly stripped & cleaned. This can often make the tappets noisier, so much so that you really notice it. Then you add some mineral oil that is not so thick as a fully synthetic oil to aid running in...though after this has been changed twice & fully syn placed back into the engine the noise soon dies down.

But as already mentioned take it back & let those that built the engine have an opportunity to explain.

 

Thanx extreme

 

Scooby23,

Does it get quieter when it's warmed up, or does it stay the same ?

Do you know what pistons have been fitted, and what piston to bore clearnces were used ?

If you get a long screwdriver, and put the metal end against the heads, listen with the handle against your ear, and see how loud they are. Do the same on different areas of the engine, and you "may" be able to narrow the noice down to heads, or block. It's not always easy, and can be deceptive.

Mark.

 

No, stays the same even when it's warm. The pistons are omega forged pistons, not sure of the clearence?

 

Assuming that your garage actually know what they're doing, ask them what bore clearance they used for the pistons. You should be able to have an instant answer, as any serious engineer has that stuff at his fingertips. Any prevarication and you've largely answered your own question about their competence.

Hydraulic lifters rattle like mad after they've been cleaned out, but only for 10 - 15 minutes at first start up, then they'll settle and should remain quiet until they eventually fail, many, many miles down the road. If they remain collapsed [ sometimes happens - luck of the draw ] after they've been cleaned out then a new set is needed ASAP as they aren't doing anything any good inside.

Sounds to me as if your engine is a lemon and I would expect any customer of ours to reject an engine like that before they took delivery. Not that we would even let you hear it like that.

Get onto your garage and keep onto them until they do something to either fix it or quieten it. DO NOT ACCEPT ANY EXCUSES.

Good Luck keep us posted. David API Engines

 

David, sent you email

 

i hope you took it to a reputable engine rebuilder as i had an engine rebuilt a few years ago at a cost of 3000 pounds it broke after 750 miles with the exact fault i took it in with went to trading standards even got a debt collector in all it did was cost me more money ended up putting the engine into a local company that just repair engines their costs were much smaller than the 1st garage and the repair was done right garages who specialise in modding cars arent a good place to take a car to have engine rebuilds take it to engineerings places that specialise in this and you will not be dissapointed, but like us all you have to be ripped of to find out the truth as ive told people about my delema since ,but nobody takes any notice as they have to find out 1st hand and thats when its too late

 

I don't won't to name the garage as i want to give them chance to sort the problem. If they don't then their name WILL be mentioned, but i was told that the mechanic working on my car has had 15 years exprience working on subaru's. They also race their own rally car and do rally engine rebuilds. Which is why i'm dissapointed with my rebuild.

 

Scooby23 - Will listen to the engine vid tommorrow and forward onto David @ API. He has a good knowledge of these things dont you SIR

Seriously doesnt sound healthy though.

 

Frantic here as ever yesterday, must be Scooby engine busting season.

I listened to this engine last night; ' Sounds like a monkey having intercourse with a pound of nails '

The predominant noise appears to be very rattly tappets, due to the way the sound thread works it is not possible to listen 'through' the noise to hear other sounds.

Either way it is not good and should be rectified ASAP. Certainly isn't the sound of a £3000 rebuilt engine.

David

 

David

Firstly, thanx for taking the time to listen to the clip i sent you. It's hard to pick it up through the other sounds but you can definately hear it doesn't sound pretty. I'm gonna be taking the car back for it's 500 mile service/checkup and will be asking them to rectify the noise.

It's dissapointing to have spent the money i have and be left with a car that sounds like a bag of sh*t. I'm gonna print out the replys i've had and take them with me. I haven't named the garage yet cause i think they should be given the chance to fix it, but if not i think i will be naming them so other people aren't dissapointed.

In fairness to the garage when i phoned them to say i wasn't happy they did say that they will look into it when i bring it back

 

Ok took the car back to the garage and they've told me that i have piston slap, but one or two tappets are noisey.
I know there was some piston slap but the tappets are definately louder than should be. They said that they are going to look into changing the hydraulic lifters for manual ones. but as i'm using legacy heads they don't know if this is possible. Does anyone know if this is possible?

 

Just spat beer all over my keyboard