Petrol/gas engine rattle on late 2.0 litre van

[Two Transit Dave]

Does anyone have any idea what the short rattle on start up may be, I have a Transit 100S which I run on LPG and since buying a 90 350 diesel I havent used it for about two weeks and when I started it up Saturday there was a top end (sounded like tappets) rattle for about 30 seconds then stopped. The van has been serviced by a guy I use for most of my vehicles and I help occasionally the oil has been changed at around 15000 miles and I use either Mobil 1 or Silkolene ester based synthetic because it runs on LPG the oil stays nearly as clean as the day I put it in. This rattle has only started on start up on Saturday so today I am going to start it again to see what happens. Has this petrol engine got a history of problems mileage at the moment is 46k.

[Luke]

sounds like the hydraulic tappets is it a DOHC engine

[Two Transit Dave]

Yes it is the engine has DOHC on the metal rocker cover.

[Two Transit Dave]

Just started it up this morning and no rattle so it sounds like hydraulic tappets draining out or whatever it is they do when its not used for long periods.

[rover]

Its very possible the hydraulic timing chain tensioner had drained, I used to have a Granny that did it if you didnt drive it for a week, your best bet is to start it every other day and run it for 10 mins

Rover.

[apples26]

nothing of any concern to be honest m8, just the lifters

[motorwise]

the hydraulic tappets will drain as will the chain tensioner if it's left for a while so whats happened is normal and nothing to worry about is what were saying - I would change the oil a bit more regularly then 15,000 though

[Two Transit Dave]

Thanks for the replies, I will just have to let it run for a while on start up after long periods of non use. I only use the van for running to large jobs we do rather than use the larger diesel Transit each day as the LPG only costs about 48p a litre and with the air-con running it still does 250 miles for a £24 fill (a lot cheaper when I gas up in Southampton)
The reason I change the oil at 15000 miles is that I am using very expensive fully synthetic oils which should have at least that life plus for some reason because the van runs mostly on LPG the oil seems to stay clean.

[davidat19]

I am using under protest a semi synth in mine (2.0 dohc dual fuel) but it uses more than when I used 20-50.

[Two Transit Dave]

Thats strange because mine doesn't really use any oil at all and the guy who shares the driving with me is a pedal to the metal sort of bloke and I am always giving him verbal for driving too fast but this still doesn't really effect the oil consumption.

[WINDSCREENGUY]

mine does this sometimes what i do is hold the accelerater pedal to floor the when starting the van, then after 20-30 release it . this causes the van not to fire up while the accelerater pedal is down so it gives a chance for the oil to pump round.

[apples26]

true but were do you think all that fuel is going? into your chambers, so over a long period bore wash and contaminated oil, thats a drastic case scenario type thing but its quite possible

[davidat19]

At £24 for afill it sounds like a 12 to 14 gallon tank (60 - 75 l) Mine has a 52 litre tank,, I'm getting between 16 and 18.5 per gallon. Mine is the Fiorini system fitted by (or rather for) Ford.. as yours is after market I would love to know what you get out of it.

[WINDSCREENGUY]

oh bore wash maybe ill stop then

[davidat19]

Who you callin' a borin' wash!!!!!!!!