Guys My Exige S is really tappety, after meeting with lotus engineer today he says that they are all different and mine is not so bad that they will do anything about it. Also my supercharger makes a noise like a harmonica (lotus engineers words not mine) when you lift off, he said thats normal too?
So is it? I have driven NA cars before and do not remember them being as tapety as mine and have only driven a 240R for a short time and dont remember the harmonica.
Is there anything I can do to quieten it down? apart from a loud exhaust.
Boothy
Sits awaiting Pesky…
p.s. if you have your windows rite down do they rattle? but not if up an inch. he said thats normal too but my S2 111s never did and that had electric windows too.
Hi Boothy. I’m also struggling with the eternal 2ZZ exige owners dilema of whether the common problem of tappet noise, albeit different levels of noise on different cars, is just TADTS or there is a potentially serious issue about to get horribly worse every time the 2nd cam is used. You have my sympathies as i doubt you will ever get a truly satisfactory answer. I have owned my 19k miles 05 plate S2 for 3 months and it hasnt got any worse and is only mildly irritating not from a mechanical noise point of view but it just doesnt seem sound right for a refined race bred supersports car. I expect the sounds of lots of perfectly matched parts rotating in perfect harmony, not the feeling that someone at lotus found a job lot of unwanted Rootes-Chrysler Simca engines in a skip.Rant ends, brother!
Waterboy, yep mine sounds abit like yours from what you say. I get a constant ticking noise whenever I take my foot off or when driving steady at around 3k. Some of it the engineer says is the injectors but did admit it was tappety just not enough to beworth stripping down. My worry is that at my current miles I will only be at about 12k when my warranty expires and after that I am on my own.
If its nothing to worry about then fine but if there is an oil I can use to quieten it then I will drop the oil and try that.
Sector 111 seem to reccomend a Motul 5w40? is that worth a try? what will the dealer of put in?
The noise didnt seem to be any different after an oil change with a different fully synthetic. The strange thing is that the engine is really sweet from cold until i have got it not just fully up to temp and warmed up but after a further 10 minutes of running or so. Sometimes it seems to be a lot more noticeable but that might just be me. I’ve picked up threads elsewhere of owners who have reported soft cam lobes and have replaced the camshaft but never found out if this has cured the problem. Has anyone any experience of the result of a camchange to solve this problem?
Mine was tappety when I bought it at 9K miles. It deteriorated by 11K miles and the cams and followers were changed. Its now super smoooooth. I use Silkolene Pro S 5W/40 oil now as it has a large dose of moly in it which is great for finger followers as they all have problems with wear caused by boundary lubrication (bordering on metal to metal contact).
If you engine is sounding tappety get the clearances measured. They are adjustable (but you need a special toyota service tool) but there shouldn’t be owt to stop you checking. I can dig up the spec for the tolerance whe I get my other computer back (maybe tomorrow).
I’m with Pesky on this.
I followed the Badnis (under another name) tappet thread with interest.
Very thorough and worth checking with him, although I’m sure further posts will follow.
Hi Badnis. I would really appreciate if you had some more info on how to check and adjust the tappets. Bit confused by the dealer adjusting tool idea though as i thought the adjustment was set by shims requiring cam out. I found this feature on tappet adjustment for the 2ZZ from the yota boys, is this the right motor and does the procedure look right?
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p.s. if you have your windows rite down do they rattle? but not if up an inch. he said thats normal too but my S2 111s never did and that had electric windows too.
Check the tightness of the window guide rail screws (not the adjusters for positioning).
I’ll try to get my other PC back from the menders today. If you PM me your email address I’ll email over the files.
The service tool for changing the shims is a bit of a heath robinson lash up. IIRC it hooks under the follower and pushes the valve/retainer/spring downwards allowing you to pull out the shim with a pair of tweezers.
I hope you get it sorted, mine got sorted very quickly, BUT i would never describe mine as super smooth even when new cams were fitted, i always had it in the back of my mind that this issues was never fully resolver or fully explained. i did removed the cam cover again after a couple of 1,000 miles to check and the cams were perfect
I suppose that when you have an issue like this you get a bit paranoid
Is the car using oil, mine did then when sorted never used a drop !!
I haven’t got my Toyota PDF docs back yet but I was rummaging through my Lotus workshop manual and the COLD clearances (cam to follower) are listed in the front.
They are 0.15 - 0.25mm for the inlet and 0.35 - 0.45 for the exhaust. It does say that they shouldn’t require adjustment although they should be checked occasionally… so what are the odds that the dealers check them…
Thanks for all your help, I really dont know what to do now as the Lotus engineers says its fine. (even though sounds noisy to me). I am at our Norlog meet tomorrow night so can hopefully compaire a few there.
Does anyone else have this harmonica sound from the charger? is it normal?
Abit of an update on this, we now dont think its tappets. A couple of norlog guys have been out in the car and agree it does not sound 100%, however we have established that there is no tapping on tickover, its worst (or at least you can hear it most) at 3.5kish, What we have also worked out is it does not do it until its warm…
I dont know but I am wondering if its related to the noise from my supercharger? So for the guys with M62’s should it make this harmonica noise? basically its worst as you lift off, the whine changes to a nasty resonance which can only be described as sounding a bit like a harmonica. The lotus guy said its nomal but it does not sound normal to me, Yesterday I was overtaking and the revs were high, as I pulled back in and lifted off it sounded like crunching gears! at this point my missus turned round and asked what the hell it was, if she thinks it sounds wrong then I am sure it cant be right as the engine could pretty much fall out of the back of the car and she would not notice.
So does anyone have any ideas? Should I look at taking it to a toyota tuner and getting their opinion and maybe a report done.
Its also worth a mention that once not long after I got it as I started it up it made a noise like it had no oil in for about two seconds and then settled to normal, I switched it all off and checked everything (which all checked out). I phoned the dealer and they said it sounded like my supercharger rotors but that when they go they normally go totally, could all this be related? has anyone else had anything like this?