vauxhall astra making funny noise

saving123

for the past couple of weeks my astra has started making a loud noise similar to a diesel engine or a tractor or something. It does it intermittently - for example one day it will do it then for the next few it won't then it will start again. Normally it is really loud when you get to a roundabout or traffic lights or somewhere you are temporarily stoppoing the car. We took it to a garage but when we took it it had stopped making the noise and they just said they couldnt find anything.

Any ideas what it could be? Hopefully nothing to costly. It is under 4 years old and done just over £20k miles.

saving123

bump - anyone got any advice? thanks

vax2002

Hydraulic lifters not charging with oil ?
You may have had the wrong grade oil fitted, it is very common these days, try an engine flush and then a complete oil and filter change with the correct manufactures spec of oil and don't trust the last people to do it.
which engine is it.

Bingo_Bill

saving123 wrote: »

for the past couple of weeks my astra has started making a loud noise similar to a diesel engine or a tractor or something. It does it intermittently - for example one day it will do it then for the next few it won't then it will start again. Normally it is really loud when you get to a roundabout or traffic lights or somewhere you are temporarily stoppoing the car. We took it to a garage but when we took it it had stopped making the noise and they just said they couldnt find anything.

Any ideas what it could be? Hopefully nothing to costly. It is under 4 years old and done just over £20k miles.

Sounds like one of the hydraulic valve lifters is sticking. The reason it is intermittent is probably because it is worn or the oil supply is temporarily cut off. This could be due to carbon build up ( but shouldn't be at 20K miles) or a badly machined /manufactured part.:(

saving123

i have no idea about cars so will have to put it into the garage just wondering if it is likely to be something expensive?! stupid question probably but i take it i should be changing the oil regularly or something? I havent done anything like this, should I? and could that be causing the problem? Also should it have a warning light if i am meant to do this?

it is a 1.8sri

thanks

Bingo_Bill

saving123 wrote: »

i have no idea about cars so will have to put it into the garage just wondering if it is likely to be something expensive?! stupid question probably but i take it i should be changing the oil regularly or something? I havent done anything like this, should I? and could that be causing the problem? Also should it have a warning light if i am meant to do this?

it is a 1.8sri

thanks

You normally would only have warning light to alert you of loss of pressure, some cars have a dipstick level warning light as well but not too common.
It is worth changing the oil and filter to see if this makes a difference, making sure a good quality oil of the right grade is used (ie Castrol magantec). If the noise still persists unfortunately the valve lifter will need to be changed. With it being intermittent the garage will have difficulty identifying the culprit lifter (as I would think there will be 16 of them). This may increase the labour costs compared to just changing the part. It might be worth letting it develop a bit longer untill it becomes more frequent. You won't totally break down, at the worst you will probably suffer a slight misfire and of course the noise.:)

saving123

thanks so much, appreciate the advice

vax2002

that engine is famous for it and if you have not had the oil changed then its just about odds on, however here is the problem, Local garages are notoriously greedy and buy oil in bulk, your engine 2004 + most likely needs a fine specification oil of fully synthetic 5w30, it will state in your handbook. now this is very specialised stuff here, most engines do not run on it and just burn it up. Your local garages tend to buy oil by the barrel at 15/40 or even 20/50 and some even buy bulk filtered oil, hey its all profit and what happens is it clogs up in the oil ways and starves the hydraulic lifters of oil which the clatter, the clattering is luckily just a fresh air gap and if quick remedial action is taken you can usually get it back.
So just taking it to a local garage often makes it worse as you get the one dose does oil crap&sons oil from the big blue barrel in the corner, some even suck the old oil up the dipstick which leaves all the sludge in the sump pan.
You will need to flush the engine out with a engine oil flush, change the filter and re-fill with the correct grade oil as stated in your handbook, often the only way to get this done at a garage is to buy them the stuff your self and insist you watch them do the job. And insist they do a sump drain and not cheat and use a dipstick sucker leaving all the crap for the new oil to distribute.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

vax2002 wrote: »

that engine is famous for it and if you have not had the oil changed then its just about odds on, however here is the problem, Local garages are notoriously greedy and buy oil in bulk, your engine 2004 + most likely needs a fine specification oil of fully synthetic 5w30, it will state in your handbook. now this is very specialised stuff here, most engines do not run on it and just burn it up. Your local garages tend to buy oil by the barrel at 15/40 or even 20/50 and some even buy bulk filtered oil, hey its all profit and what happens is it clogs up in the oil ways and starves the hydraulic lifters of oil which the clatter, the clattering is luckily just a fresh air gap and if quick remedial action is taken you can usually get it back.
So just taking it to a local garage often makes it worse as you get the one dose does oil crap&sons oil from the big blue barrel in the corner, some even suck the old oil up the dipstick which leaves all the sludge in the sump pan.
You will need to flush the engine out with a engine oil flush, change the filter and re-fill with the correct grade oil as stated in your handbook, often the only way to get this done at a garage is to buy them the stuff your self and insist you watch them do the job. And insist they do a sump drain and not cheat and use a dipstick sucker leaving all the crap for the new oil to distribute.

again your on the money vax. some garages by 210LTRs of the cheapstuff. 5/30 10/30 and 15/40 usually deisel oil in the 15/40. i used to load unload and deliver these things to garages pain in the back side they were.