Noisey Tappets

[philippe]

I do not use my car everyday so it does do a bit of sitting around, the tappets take a while to clear when it is cold, i know that it takes a while for the oil to get around the engine but they take longer than i remember to clear, once they clear within a few minutes its fine, is this normal.

Phil

 

[Guest]

Hi Phil,

Now I do not confess to being a Porsche expert or anything, but I have suffered a similar sound on a V8 petrol powered BMW X5. I spoke at length to a BMW technician at my local dealer, and his reply was thus: -

If the engine is left for several days/weeks/months without being run the oil in the hydraulic tappet's will drain out, and de-pressurise the tappet, leaving a large gap between the cam lob and the follower, (the large gap is the noise/rattle you can hear) when the engine is re-started it can take several seconds re-pressure said tappets, hence the awful noise from the engine. Further to this, one or two of my tappets would take several minutes to pressure up properly and sounded like an old overhead cam ford engine with a chewed cam lobe!!!

The noise caused no long term problems with said X5, I don't even know if my reply applies to a 996, I have only owned mine 3 days, and it is my first Porsche

Hope this helps.

--Grimbleweed

 

[philippe]

Ian

Thanks for the detailed information, that does make complete sense to me, it always clears but never remember it taking so long, i shall keep an eye on it, just in case.

Enjoy your new Porsche

Phil