sempers

First thing in the morning, the car clatters quite loudly on or off throttle between about 1500 and 3000 rpm. Clatter appears to come from the drivers side rear area of the engine.

Clatter doesn't appear to happen when I go out at lunch, or leave to go home. I checked for this before I bought the thing, no sign - the engine can be cold to touch, no clatter. Only first thing in the morning. Also of possible note is that it's parked nose down by about 15/20 degrees (yep, I'll park it the other way round tonight).

[edited to say I guess this wasn't detected 'cos I'm pretty sure the trader was driving it home/to work. Cold to the touch, but...]

The ?odd? thing is that this is an early 97 P plate car with 86k miles on it - not a particular candidate for piston slap I'd have thought?

Thanks,
- Mark.

[Edited by sempers - 1/31/2002 11:32:46 AM]

WREXY

Mark,

Here's a recording of what piston slap sounds like.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan.leslie/

It was provided by Alan Leslie who is a scoobynet member. Let us know if this is what you're hearing.

Cheers,

Wrexy.

Trumble

Thanks for the link - certainly can hear the difference between the two but cant really hear the "knocking" noise.

T.

sempers

Yeah, sadly it does indeed sound a lot like that.
Noise appears to come from the left rear area of the engine (looking from front) - Is that perchance cyl 4?

Assuming it is piston slap, anyone have a view on options? I know the warranty fix is a whole new short engine. Doesn't seem like such a good plan on an 86k / 97 car. (Particularly as it's not on warranty)

What's an engine rebuild / replacement piston likely to cost? Do you need to strip the whole engine? Presumably one side alone could be done - I don't believe pistons are matched / balanced are they?

- Mark.

madness

speak to Scoobysport in Basildon...
i was recently quoted APPX £615 including vat and they said they had done several of these recently (even had an engine out doing a piston slap repair when i phoned), they can discuss details over the phone.

P.S. if you do have it done, try and get any other engine work done at the same time as it saves money - clutch/gearbox work etc etc...

BIGRS

thanks for the link mate,its just confirmed that my 2wd cossie has piston slap!the sound is identical.do you find that its really noisy pulling away when cold at about 2000rpm?what are the dangers(if any)of running the engine hard in this condition?anyone know

regards
mrrs

Cosie Convert

I thought all 2WD cossies had piston slap when cold ? Something to do with the type of alloy and the position of the piston pin I believe.
I presume all is normal when warmed up ?
As long as you let it (Cossie, not sure about Scoob) warm up before thrashing it then absolutely no problem.

I used to circuit race a 2WD cossie which sounded like a Diesel from cold but ran great for 2 seasons getting severe (24psi) thrash

I later fitted a set of 4x4 pistons, lovely and quiet due to different alloy and pin position...........but no faster

cc

[Edited by Cosie Convert - 2/2/2002 11:38:18 AM]

BIGRS

hi cossie convert,yes it sounds like a diesel from cold and gets slightly better(exactly same as the two sounds above)when warmed up.like you say all the early cossies had piston slap but ive heard a few others and none are as noisy as mine.im just glad that i know what the noise is now as ive been thinking the problem was big ends ,small ends,or hydraulic tappets,so its eased the cossie paranoia a little!(you know what that is)the car is totally reliable 89k running350bhp peaking at 28psi and holding 26psi

regards

mrrs

Richard Curtis

sempers - I have exactly the same symtoms on my97 (30K miles)except mine comes from RHS of car.

I have seen a few posts relating to slap on MY97 & 98 models so yours is not that uncommon.

I'm dropping it off at the dealers Tuesday night so they can have a listen Wednesday morning.

Apparently other causes of a tapping noise when cold is worn belts, but if its from the rear thats less likely.

good luck resolving yours, its a pain when your pride & joy gets sick

Rich