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[terry paget]

Astra 1.6 Life petrol manual estate 08 reg 112510 miles.
This car was bought for my daughter living in Enfield. She complained that warning lights kept coming on, so I collected it and left her my Omega 3.2 for transport. It now runs all right, but has a worrying rattle on cold start, that has been there since I bought it. The oil light goes out immediately on engine start, but the engine rattles for about a second afterwards. Listening with bonnet open and my head level with the cylinder head noise appears to come from the centre of the cylinder head. I have removed the gauzes from the variable valve timing (VVT) solenoids as advised by DG, but rattle remains.

On restart no rattle occurs, but after an hour's cooling it does. It's as though once the oil reaches the head all is well.

Please advise.

[Gaffers]

Misfire?  Is there any blue/grey smoke that accompanies the rattle on startup?

[Andy H]

The bearings are worn and there is lots of clearance which results in an audible rattle until fresh oil is pumped through the bearings.

It will probably run like that for years if driven gently.........

Back in the day when an A series Morris engine was worn out at 30,000 miles it was common for people to drop the sump and throw some new big end and main bearing shells in. Doesn't make economic sense nowadays though as most engines are still like new when the car is scrapped and good secondhand engines are plantiful.

[Doctor Gollum]

Weak oil pump...

[Kevin Wood]

If it's from the head it's probably just a lifter or a chain tensioner filling up.
If theyre's no nasty rumbling or knocking when fully warmed up under load I'd not worry about it.

[dave the builder]

It has done some miles,parts are worn, once the oil fills the voids it's fine (hence thick semi 10w40 is good )
you could spend ages adjusting lifters and checking cam lobes ,fitting new big and main bearings etc etc ......
OR
just use it for another 5 years (with regular servicing) and when the engine rattles to bits and everything else is worn out ......
buy another 
preferably one with less than 100k and a decent history the next time   

[Nick W]

If it's from the head it's probably just a lifter or a chain tensioner filling up.
If theyre's no nasty rumbling or knocking when fully warmed up under load I'd not worry about it.

This.


If it stops quickly then you'll spend a lot of time and probably money on trying to fix something doesn't matter.


You've already done what I would recommend, which is use the heavier oil that is suggested for that engine. The one time I put 5w30 in my Omega, it was really noisy on startup; going back to 10w40 for the next year's oil change stopped that.

[Lizzie Zoom]

The bearings are worn and there is lots of clearance which results in an audible rattle until fresh oil is pumped through the bearings.

It will probably run like that for years if driven gently.........

Back in the day when an A series Morris engine was worn out at 30,000 miles it was common for people to drop the sump and throw some new big end and main bearing shells in. Doesn't make economic sense nowadays though as most engines are still like new when the car is scrapped and good secondhand engines are plantiful.

Oh, happy memories as I did that

Also with the A series engine if you had a top end rattle it was commonly down to a tappet needing adjustment.

[Nick W]

The bearings are worn and there is lots of clearance which results in an audible rattle until fresh oil is pumped through the bearings.

It will probably run like that for years if driven gently.........

Back in the day when an A series Morris engine was worn out at 30,000 miles it was common for people to drop the sump and throw some new big end and main bearing shells in. Doesn't make economic sense nowadays though as most engines are still like new when the car is scrapped and good secondhand engines are plantiful.

Oh, happy memories as I did that

Also with the A series engine if you had a top end rattle it was commonly down to a tappet needing adjustment.

that's if you could hear it over the racket made by the timing chain


And you can't just drop the sump when the engine is in a Mini. 30k miles seems rather low to me, 100k is much more likely and is pretty typical for any mass-produced OHV engineof that era. Inadequate fuelling and ignition is themain cause

[Lizzie Zoom]

The bearings are worn and there is lots of clearance which results in an audible rattle until fresh oil is pumped through the bearings.

It will probably run like that for years if driven gently.........

Back in the day when an A series Morris engine was worn out at 30,000 miles it was common for people to drop the sump and throw some new big end and main bearing shells in. Doesn't make economic sense nowadays though as most engines are still like new when the car is scrapped and good secondhand engines are plantiful.

Oh, happy memories as I did that

Also with the A series engine if you had a top end rattle it was commonly down to a tappet needing adjustment.

that's if you could hear it over the racket made by the timing chain


And you can't just drop the sump when the engine is in a Mini. 30k miles seems rather low to me, 100k is much more likely and is pretty typical for any mass-produced OHV engineof that era. Inadequate fuelling and ignition is themain cause

My A40 was just at 40k

Two valves were also burnt with chunks out of them, and the rest needed re-seating

[terry paget]

The bearings are worn and there is lots of clearance which results in an audible rattle until fresh oil is pumped through the bearings.

It will probably run like that for years if driven gently.........

Back in the day when an A series Morris engine was worn out at 30,000 miles it was common for people to drop the sump and throw some new big end and main bearing shells in. Doesn't make economic sense nowadays though as most engines are still like new when the car is scrapped and good secondhand engines are plantiful.

Oh, happy memories as I did that

Also with the A series engine if you had a top end rattle it was commonly down to a tappet needing adjustment.

that's if you could hear it over the racket made by the timing chain


And you can't just drop the sump when the engine is in a Mini. 30k miles seems rather low to me, 100k is much more likely and is pretty typical for any mass-produced OHV engineof that era. Inadequate fuelling and ignition is themain cause

My A40 was just at 40k

Two valves were also burnt with chunks out of them, and the rest needed re-seating ;)

On my Morris 1100 I used to regrind my exhaust valves every year - they needed it too

[Kevin Wood]

On my Morris 1100 I used to regrind my exhaust valves every year - they needed it too

That'll be down to the aforementioned Inadequate fuelling and ignition.

[Lizzie Zoom]

The bearings are worn and there is lots of clearance which results in an audible rattle until fresh oil is pumped through the bearings.

It will probably run like that for years if driven gently.........

Back in the day when an A series Morris engine was worn out at 30,000 miles it was common for people to drop the sump and throw some new big end and main bearing shells in. Doesn't make economic sense nowadays though as most engines are still like new when the car is scrapped and good secondhand engines are plantiful.

Oh, happy memories as I did that

Also with the A series engine if you had a top end rattle it was commonly down to a tappet needing adjustment.

that's if you could hear it over the racket made by the timing chain


And you can't just drop the sump when the engine is in a Mini. 30k miles seems rather low to me, 100k is much more likely and is pretty typical for any mass-produced OHV engineof that era. Inadequate fuelling and ignition is themain cause

My A40 was just at 40k

Two valves were also burnt with chunks out of them, and the rest needed re-seating ;)

On my Morris 1100 I used to regrind my exhaust valves every year - they needed it too

Ahhhhh, the great old days of British motoring!!

[terry paget]

On my Morris 1100 I used to regrind my exhaust valves every year - they needed it too

That'll be down to the aforementioned Inadequate fuelling and ignition.

I reckon that explains John Haynes Jaguar V12 and COONY's Triumph 2.5PI starting on a selection of cylinders, with the rest joining in later. I wonder that the V12 Rolls Royce Merlin engines, fitted in Spifires, Mustangs, Lancaster bombers, etc., started as well as they did. Maybe having twin magnetos had something to do with it.

[Kevin Wood]

On my Morris 1100 I used to regrind my exhaust valves every year - they needed it too

That'll be down to the aforementioned Inadequate fuelling and ignition.

I reckon that explains John Haynes Jaguar V12 and COONY's Triumph 2.5PI starting on a selection of cylinders, with the rest joining in later. I wonder that the V12 Rolls Royce Merlin engines, fitted in Spifires, Mustangs, Lancaster bombers, etc., started as well as they did. Maybe having twin magnetos had something to do with it.

.. or the absence of BL bean counters.

Having stood at the wingtip of a spitfire as it's started, you can watch little sprays of fuel eminating from each of the exhaust stubs as it goes through its' firing order. As the first cylinder to fire exhausts, the whole lot catches fire before the prop wash blows the fire out a second or two later and the ground starts shaking.