FTO AUSTRALIA

Gday
my gpx has noisy tappets all the time on cold start up and even when the motor has warmed up. My car has just hit 150000km and i know its really common in these cars
and i did a search and found out that gpx tappets are ajustable. so how much would it cost to get them ajusted and if this still doesnt fix it will it do any long term damage.I bought this car a week ago

thanks

The cost will be around $150- $300 pending where you go to get it done.

The GPX actually has 12 adjustable tappets & 12 hydraulic. First things first, try a good oil flush, if it helps the problem, then its cleaned some of gunk out of the hydraulic units.

If it fails to help, then yeah it'll be the adjustable units. There are also small plastic collets that sit around the tips of the adjuster that can break off over time too. You wont find that out till you get them adjusted thou.

I will try an oil flush first but should i switch to a thicker oil because the oil in it now is quite thin. which grade and brand would you recomend.

thanks

Bennoz wrote:The GPX actually has 12 adjustable tappets & 12 hydraulic. First things first, try a good oil flush, if it helps the problem, then its cleaned some of gunk out of the hydraulic units.

If it fails to help, then yeah it'll be the adjustable units. There are also small plastic collets that sit around the tips of the adjuster that can break off over time too. You wont find that out till you get them adjusted thou.

Just wondering what kind of effect these broken plastic parts would have on the tappet positioning and engine overall?

I recently had to replace my sump, due to splitting it open on a dodgey, bumpy Toowoomba road.

In the process of swapping my sump out with one from an old 6A12 I had sitting around, I found a little pile of broken plastic circles in the baffles at the bottom of the sump I was replacing. Just not sure what kind of damage this is doing to my motor...

pete_gpx wrote: I recently had to replace my sump, due to splitting it open on a dodgey, bumpy Toowoomba road.

Still say that bit near the hospital isn't that bad. I still reckon it's just cause of how stupidly low your car is

On a serious note, MH999, don't go a thicker oil. a 10w40 or 15w40 should be what oil you run, going a thick oil will not do much for the tappets and I reckon it effects performance a little, just get them fixed when you can.

Brand wise try what you can afford and find what you like, I like the Motul stuff personally but it's pretty expensive. Ran Royal purple and Pennzoil for a while as well and always found both good.

i go halvoline premium plus, its about $40 a 5l bottle so its not gonna destroy your wallet either

i took it for a drive today and tappets werent as noisy as before i can get use to it but will
change the oil and get engine flushed in a week .Thanks for all your advice

actually once the tappets are noisy they will stay noisy nothing will fix them. I have tried sem syn penrite 10w and 15w put all kinds of tappet flushes etc nothing changed. 15w is probably a bit thick you can hear it struggling thru the engine actually.

silverGPX wrote:actually once the tappets are noisy they will stay noisy nothing will fix them. I have tried sem syn penrite 10w and 15w put all kinds of tappet flushes etc nothing changed. 15w is probably a bit thick you can hear it struggling thru the engine actually.

What 15w was that Matt? It hasn't ever in my car!!!

Sounds like another job for a DIY day hey. I need to do mine as well so maybe in a couple of months.

it was the 15w-60 penrite semi synthetic. The guy reckoned that the 60 was just its temperature breakdown rating. Which would probably explain why my car is like 10x more powerful on cold nights and days. Haha yes a DIY day. I had a go at doing my windows stop it rattling but i played around with the window height adjusting and that needs to be fixed. drivers side still to go and i also fixed the moving steering wheel problem.

silverGPX wrote:actually once the tappets are noisy they will stay noisy nothing will fix them. I have tried sem syn penrite 10w and 15w put all kinds of tappet flushes etc nothing changed. 15w is probably a bit thick you can hear it struggling thru the engine actually.

THose tappet flushes have been very successful in my car. I usually put one in every service and they stay quiet for about 8000km.

hmm i wonder why it doesnt do anything for me? mine are probably a lot out of adjustment. But they arent that loud really, compared to some i have heard.

pete_gpx wrote:

Bennoz wrote:The GPX actually has 12 adjustable tappets & 12 hydraulic. First things first, try a good oil flush, if it helps the problem, then its cleaned some of gunk out of the hydraulic units.

If it fails to help, then yeah it'll be the adjustable units. There are also small plastic collets that sit around the tips of the adjuster that can break off over time too. You wont find that out till you get them adjusted thou.

Just wondering what kind of effect these broken plastic parts would have on the tappet positioning and engine overall?

I recently had to replace my sump, due to splitting it open on a dodgey, bumpy Toowoomba road.

In the process of swapping my sump out with one from an old 6A12 I had sitting around, I found a little pile of broken plastic circles in the baffles at the bottom of the sump I was replacing. Just not sure what kind of damage this is doing to my motor...

The plastic will do no immediate damage to the motor. Even if one goes through a critical component like a valve, you may get a mini hiccup from the motor, but it will be instantly destroyed, or sent packing down to the sump.

However, and this would be extrememly rare as I've never heard of it happening, but there is the off chance if you break enough of them, and they all end up in the same spot, that they may clog up an oil gallery. That wouldn't be good.

silverGPX wrote:it was the 15w-60 penrite semi synthetic

15w-60 is faaaaaaaar to think. The optimum oil for the FTO reardless of tappet noise is 5w-40.

Putting in a thicker oil to mask tappet noise is the quickest way to cause even more wear in the engine. Being thicker, it will stay in the tappet longer, and cause it to clog, then wear even faster.

Cheers, Ben. On that note, what are the little plastic parts purpose in the head, anyway? Are they completely nonessential?

I totally agree with ben 5w-40 is the best found the fully synthetic shell helix is fantastic for acceleration and fuel economy and at $65 for 5 litres it affordable to. As for the tappets issue my engine currently sounds like diesel ..... and will update with results once i get the adjustable tappets corrected.

I recently asked joe and riks and they want $1200 to fix my oil leak and tappets.

they reckoned well sounded so certain when i told them on the phone that it was my cam oil seal and not my rocker cover gasket?

anyone know the right adjustment for the tappets?

TigerFTO wrote:anyone know the right adjustment for the tappets?

the clearances are; Inlet 0.1mm and Exhaust 0.13mm

These should help, Note only the MIVEC tappets can be adjusted, the GR models (Non-MIVEC) has non-adjustable hydraulic tappets just use a thicker oil grade hehe

Cheers Damian.

pearl_blu_fto wrote:just use a thicker oil grade hehe