Another Variator Question. Sorry!!

paul kenyon

Junior Member
Messages
24
Do they tend to fail at a certain mileage, or age or is it random? Looking at buying either a 2007 74k mile car vs 2009 31k car with the latter bing £2.5k more. Neither have any evidence of variator work having been done.... I have searched for threads honest!
 

Silvercat

Member
Messages
1,166
Do they tend to fail at a certain mileage, or age or is it random? Looking at buying either a 2007 74k mile car vs 2009 31k car with the latter bing £2.5k more. Neither have any evidence of variator work having been done.... I have searched for threads honest!
Mine went around 40k miles.
 

giorgio01

Member
Messages
223
Do they tend to fail at a certain mileage, or age or is it random? Looking at buying either a 2007 74k mile car vs 2009 31k car with the latter bing £2.5k more. Neither have any evidence of variator work having been done.... I have searched for threads honest!
Apparently from certain engine nr in 2009 they where ok .
 

ChrisQP09

Member
Messages
2,994
2.5k for a car with newer car with more than half the mileage is a no brainer. I believe that cars with engine number <148xxx are affected. Do a forum search for the exact number.
 

Gazcw

Member
Messages
7,696
Do they tend to fail at a certain mileage, or age or is it random? Looking at buying either a 2007 74k mile car vs 2009 31k car with the latter bing £2.5k more. Neither have any evidence of variator work having been done.... I have searched for threads honest!
Mine started at 28k
 

Gazcw

Member
Messages
7,696
Many thanks Guys. any engine before 148697. I will check....
If they are in the engine range but not rattling you can do the <1k fix to prevent damage. Problem is how do you know car has not been run to get the oil up there and stop any rattle. It takes seconds and could last hours if not days and engine would appear cold. Either go with later engine or negotiate repair/money off for war chest.
 
Messages
1,687
Someone once said here (I think) that higher mileage cars are a reasonable risk
if their engine number falls within the number range, but they haven't developed
variator issues. If a cars done 60k ish without issue he might've said, then the engine won't or
shouldn't develop this problem. I can't recall who said this or when, but its likely
to have been last year, or possibly the year before. Sorry I can't be more precise,
but its a miracle that I remembered this much! ;)
 

stevepen

Member
Messages
139
Someone once said here (I think) that higher mileage cars are a reasonable risk
if their engine number falls within the number range, but they haven't developed
variator issues. If a cars done 60k ish without issue he might've said, then the engine won't or
shouldn't develop this problem. I can't recall who said this or when, but its likely
to have been last year, or possibly the year before. Sorry I can't be more precise,
but its a miracle that I remembered this much! ;)

76k for mine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

sshenton1975

Junior Member
Messages
41
Mine has a rattle when it is very cold outside. But does it actually matter? The sound goes away quickly. Do engines actually fail as a result?
 

Gazcw

Member
Messages
7,696
Mine has a rattle when it is very cold outside. But does it actually matter? The sound goes away quickly. Do engines actually fail as a result?
I imagine eventually it will become continuous when the wear gets too much, but I you would have done some miles by then. I seem to remember someone bought a gt that rattled all the time. Not sure what the final outcome was.
 

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,538
I imagine eventually it will become continuous when the wear gets too much, but I you would have done some miles by then. I seem to remember someone bought a gt that rattled all the time. Not sure what the final outcome was.

I think it depends. A little cold start rattle is not a huge issue. The variator rattle is a bit different. I'm not sure it's been actually proven (other than in the world of the internet) that one leads to the other.

C
 

Gazcw

Member
Messages
7,696
I think it depends. A little cold start rattle is not a huge issue. The variator rattle is a bit different. I'm not sure it's been actually proven (other than in the world of the internet) that one leads to the other.

C
So are you saying that the cold start rattle is not the variators then? I thought it was but might have been mistaken in that case.
 

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,538
So are you saying that the cold start rattle is not the variators then? I thought it was but might have been mistaken in that case.

I'm not aware of any convincing evidence that a couple of seconds of rattle is anything other than oil draining out of the valves and cams. BUT this is not gospel.

I also don't know if it's possible to test that the variators are failing

C
 

Gazcw

Member
Messages
7,696
I'm not aware of any convincing evidence that a couple of seconds of rattle is anything other than oil draining out of the valves and cams. BUT this is not gospel.

I also don't know if it's possible to test that the variators are failing

C
Well I would not worry about a rattle for such a short time but I know people do panic about it. Be interested to hear from those with knowledge if this is the variators or as you say something else.
 

midlifecrisis

Member
Messages
16,101
Old Astras (Mark One) had hydraulic tappets and if the engine hadn't been started it would sound like a box of nails till the pressure built and the cam follower gaps decresed. It didn't affect the lacklustre performance of a 1300, 75 bhp engine (1984!)

But if i was buying, I would wnat the engine to be perfect and the Variator Rattle to be fixed before i bought i it.