tappet noise and replacement

Giannis

New Member
Messages
7
Hi all,

hope you had a nice summer (it seems so far away now).

I have a problem with my 4200. Following a oil/water pump change the tappets are very noisy and most probably need either replacement or... I am stuck as I have paid already for the pump change and although I was reassured that since I did not do more than a few meters when the pump failed on the road, that the tappets would be fine, they do not seem so. Any advice and info and any suggestions would be more than welcome. The oil has been flushed already and a 'special oil' has been used to make them shut up but does not seem to work. How dangerous is for the car to work like that? Any alternatives to replasing them. Is it worth replacing the tappets or the engine? Finally, from your experience would an enthusiast/mechanical DIY person would ever buy a car at a very discounted price to do such a job himself? I am really looking forward to your suggestions as I know many of you in hear are very knowledgeable.

On another note, do you know why the maserati forum is down? I know that many of us in here use both.

I would like to thank everyone in advance,

Giannis
 

Dave

New Member
Messages
127
Not sure how the tappet noise can be affected by the water pump........why was the oil pump was changed ? I suspect that they may be hydraulic tappets......I'll do some homework and get back to you
 

Duncanofengland

Junior Member
Messages
86
Giianis,

Although hydraulic tappets don't need adjusting, they can fail due to oil contamination or wear. Replacement is probably the only realistic option - and if one has failed, then the others may not be far behind. There's 32 of them - and at £25 - £30 each, that's a lot of money. You'd also need to flush the engine thoroughly to remove any possible future contamination.

The only way that I can conceive that a water pump failure would cause the tappets to fail would be if the engine overheated and cooked the oil - the residue would cause the tappets to stick.

What may be more likely, is that the oil pump failed, causing loss of oil pressure and possible damage to the tappets and/or camshafts.

If the noise doesn't go away after a flush and special oil additive, then a strip down and inspection may be the only solution.

On your other question about buying a car at a discount because of a faulty engine, the answer is yes, but the discount would have to reflect the likely cost of repair.

The other option might be to replace the engine good, used one.

Duncan
 

Giannis

New Member
Messages
7
Thank you all for your replies. The cause was a oil pump failure. The oil/water pump has been changed with a brand new one but the tappets although they should have shouted up after the new oil heated up, they did not. The engine never overheated but the oils pump failed with me not doing more than a few meters. That is the peculiar thing that has amazed maserati and my garage as well: the fact that tappets might be damaged or in any case not working properly after doing only a few meters with the car after the pump failed. As for the tappets themselves I spoke with the person in parts department of HR Owen in London and they quoted me around £250 for all 32 tappets. Actually lately I have found out the official maserati parts are sometimes cheaper than other independant sellers. Would welcome any other suggestions or any other info regarding a good used engine I could use. I am also open on offers from people that would want to buy the car off me and do the job of replacing the tappets themselves (people with much more technical knowledge than me that will not have to pay £120/hour for a garage to do it).
 

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,593
Actually lately I have found out the official maserati parts are sometimes cheaper than other independant sellers./QUOTE]

I have found that in many cases too, electric door motors for a start, plus when I had my 3200 engine endfloat sorted, I replaced all the bearing shells, gaskets and seals, about 20% cheaper than Eurospares, but its all swings and roundabouts.
 

Dave

New Member
Messages
127
Understand a bit more now - if you lost the oil supply...........there seems to be a filter in the line that feeds to the camshaft. If it has "debris" in it the oil flow/pressure could still be reduced and not pumping up the tappets - strange that they have all failed. Must have been a catastrophic oil failure ? Doubt that flushing would have cleared them - they'd need back flushing - best take them out to check/clean them. Hope you get a fix soon..........
 

Giannis

New Member
Messages
7
Hi all,

unfortunatelly the fix is not a simple one and I am heading towards the more drastic measure of replacing the engine. If you have any tips or any advice it would be most welcome. Also, if you have any info as to any good engine around again this would be welcomed. I have enquired the usuall suspects...:) (David Askew and so on and have already 2 or 3 quotes) Has anybody done this recently? I would appreciate a chat.

Best,

Giannis
 

Emtee

New Member
Messages
8,446
Thank you for the info Emtee. I have already contacted him and he is one of my options.

Glad you've got this option covered Giannis.

Thinking further, it might be worth a PM to SimonM. He has just recently swapped out his engine, so may well have some pointers.

Cheers, Miles.
 

Giannis

New Member
Messages
7
yea it failed and lost all oil pressure. Thought that was the end of it but unfortunatelly it isn't.