richieb

Well, as my ride nears completion, and is driven on a daily basis, I have noticed, on odd occasions a light tapping from the front bank, near the dizzy, which clears after about 1-1/12 seconds of starting her in the morning.

It then does not happen again all day. Only if I leave her for 3-4 days before using again..!, I may(not everytime) get this tapping from same area, which clears very quickly.

I had a Ford that did this rattle, it was the oil grade causing the problem, and eventually, the gunk-up, and the insides carbonise a little, leaving the follower sloppy when no oil pressure has been applied for a few days were the valve was under tension. The thing would part-compress, and make a tapping until it was re-pressurised once again.

The problem was, that if you didn't change/repair them, they eventually locked down completely, and clattered like hell, so could this happen with the Red-Head?

She runs ok other than that, I am happy with her, its just I am intrigued, and maybe I wanna stop its un-predictable manifestation(big word).

Another note here is, and I am not sure if its related really, not knowing this unit too well at present... does the dizzy make a noise when running, not overly noisy, but a faint grumbling/light-light clatter!.

I have checked it, and there is no discernable play to be noted.

I have pondered that it will be a weakening hyd follower, but I have not taken the top off her yet to investigate. It seems excessive if it is just the dizzy!!, taking the manifold off etc to get to take the rocker cover off.

Are they a Hyd lifter/follower in these engines(VG30 SOHC 1990)?

Can they be adjusted/serviced/cleaned out?

Anyone else experienced this at all?

Has anyone got a "top-off" view available, or a fix known?

mech361

I'd use a genuine Nissan oil filter, and a good grade of oil. That might help. If this engine has a lot of miles on it, and hasn't seen as many oil changes as it should have, I would suspect an oil pick-up tube that may be partially stopped-up. As far as the other noise, rev the engine up a few times(1500 rpm or so) and see if the noise gets louder. A loose timing belt will rattle as well as the distributor.