Sound from VW golf engine

R32

Hi all,recently started noticing a strange sound coming from my Mk4 golf engine(no not the special golf my username suggests lol)...It's just a 1.4:(

Anyway,about 2 months ago I started hearing a ticking sound from the engine.It's a constant tick tick tick and the rate of the ticking increases as I accelerate.About a month ago my dad took his car to a mechanic to get a new battery so when I dropped him down to pick it up I asked the mechanic to have a quick listen to mine

He said the sound was due to the wrong type oil being put in the car and to just watch my oil levels and not to worry about it.I took his word for it at first but started doubting it as time went by after putting in the VW reccomended oil done nothing.The ticking makes the car sound more like a diesel than a petrol and it's just becoming a bit of a head wreck now:(

Anyway thanks for reading and any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated,cheers!

Micksheenb

Those 1.4 engines are notorious for being ****e, i assume its 98-03 or so, approaching 100k miles?

The pistons wear, and the engines start to burn oil, they are very difficult to re-build, so replacement is the main bet, and as they have a habit of wearing out prematurely, a replacement is expensive/hard to find.

They give touble in the mk1 octavia, bora, golf and others.

Sign up to vagdrivers.net, an irish vw forum, they'll point you in the right direction..

magpie

I had the same problem - in mine the head gasket had gone and it had started burning oil. Having said that I drove it around for weeks before sussing this out - replaced the head gasket and it was good as new.

tossy

Hydraulic tappets also go south in them the 1.4 is a pig of an engine when old,you are better of walking away from them after 100k - sorry for the harsh words but only being honest.

Thanks for the misleading user name,i seen R32 and sound from engine and thought nice one!

R32

Micksheenb wrote: »

Those 1.4 engines are notorious for being ****e, i assume its 98-03 or so, approaching 100k miles?

Thanks for the replys guys:)..Yeah Mick it's a 02 with nearly 90k on the clock and thanks for the website I'll do some asking around on that!

And sorry for misleading you tossy,unfortunately my sound isn't as exciting as an R32's:(...As for the tappets though,a friend of mine is training to be a mechanic at the moment and suggested it could be the tappets too

I've over 4 months left before having to renew my insurance though so I'd rather make it that far before walking away from it because money is tight at the moment:(

Micksheenb

If it was any other engine i'd have suggested tappets, low oil level/pressure etc.

once upon a time i worked in a dublin based car auction, in the space of a few months i saw at least a dozen bolloxed vw golf/bora/octavia 1.4L's going through and only selling for peanuts, all tappy, usually with blue smoke, in and around 100k, but the newer 1.4s are supposed to be a grand car.

R32

Micksheenb wrote: »

If it was any other engine i'd have suggested tappets, low oil level/pressure etc.

once upon a time i worked in a dublin based car auction, in the space of a few months i saw at least a dozen bolloxed vw golf/bora/octavia 1.4L's going through and only selling for peanuts, all tappy, usually with blue smoke, in and around 100k, but the newer 1.4s are supposed to be a grand car.

Hmm on that basis Mick would you reccomend going down the road of sorting the problem out or running away from the car as fast as possible?

Thanks again:)

Micksheenb

R32 wrote: »

Hmm on that basis Mick would you reccomend going down the road of sorting the problem out or running away from the car as fast as possible?

Thanks again:)

As tossy said above, once they start to approach 100k miles, those 1.4's break your heart. harsh as it may seem, you could be better off looking for another cheapish car. Even the 1.6L version of the same car doesn't give near as much bother.

R32

Yeah it's something I have to seriously consider I think...Had another 1.4 Golf before this which had a few sensor problems,guy crashed into that one and it was wrote off and got another golf thinking my first one might just have been a bad apple but the second one looks to be following in it's footsteps now:(

tossy

The 1.6 is leagues aheado f the 1.4 in terms of reliability,was just looking at a 1.6 passat with 130k on it the other night and it was running liek clockwork.

Having said that i don't think the 1.6 is worth the hassle in terms of the more expensive tax and slightly worse economy for what you are getting,a diesel would make much more sense,if you are on a budget the old 90bhp and 110bhp non PD's are great engines and if you found a well looked after example it could have 200k on it and not make a difference.

jayotala

I had that same problem with mine years ago. Tick tick tick, eventually it turned out to be the timing belt tensioners. They give awful trouble on those engines. Our parts department used to sell loads of kits for them. Best of luck.

vw4life

jayotala wrote: »

I had that same problem with mine years ago. Tick tick tick, eventually it turned out to be the timing belt tensioners. They give awful trouble on those engines. Our parts department used to sell loads of kits for them. Best of luck.

I agree,thats the first thing I'd be checkin

R32

jayotala wrote: »

I had that same problem with mine years ago. Tick tick tick, eventually it turned out to be the timing belt tensioners. They give awful trouble on those engines. Our parts department used to sell loads of kits for them. Best of luck.

Cheers again for the replys guys:)...As for the timing belt tensioners,this was something that started to go wrong in my first golf before it was written off,but this seems to be a different sound to that but that said it's hard to say for sure where the sound is coming from...With it being 8 years old,it has all sorts of small rattles and taps so its hard to tell where that irritating ticking is coming from for sure:(

What makes this one different though is that it gets quicker as you drive and is actually more audible than the engine itself while driving and so the radio must be turned up to stop it bugging me:mad:

jameson4me

biggest problem is the vw badge.. over priced pans of dirt..
watever the problem is it wil be expensive to fix as its a vw so if i were you id cut my losses and get rid and buy a trusty toyota or honda

kona

jameson4me wrote: »

biggest problem is the vw badge.. over priced pans of dirt..

True That

jameson4me wrote: »

watever the problem is it wil be expensive to fix as its a vw so if i were you id cut my losses and get rid and buy a trusty toyota or honda

Any car will be a ****box if it isnt maintained properly. Irish people dont look after their cars.

vw4life

kona wrote: »

Any car will be a ****box if it isnt maintained properly. Irish people dont look after their cars.

100% correct

tossy

jameson4me wrote: »

biggest problem is the vw badge.. over priced pans of dirt..
watever the problem is it wil be expensive to fix as its a vw so if i were you id cut my losses and get rid and buy a trusty toyota or honda

Top contribution to the thread,i was going to use the thanks button but unfotunately i can only use it once,and a contribution of that quality is worthy of at least 10 thanks........

Micksheenb

jameson4me wrote: »

biggest problem is the vw badge.. over priced pans of dirt..

Great tech advice there whiskey dude. :rolleyes:

tossy wrote: »

Top contribution to the thread,i was going to use the thanks button but unfotunately i can only use it once,and a contribution of that quality is worthy of at least 10 thanks........

Lol