Hi all, My friend has recently purchased a s2000 engine for a kit car, and whilst he has it in his garage has been looking it over.. it currently has no oil in or thermostat on it. When turning over by hand there is a clicking noise that is quite loud coming from what seems to be the valve area which changes as the engine is turned over e.g. the noise will come from differnt valves randomly. Is this something to worry about or is it normal?

Thanks in advance
Mike

 

I would be more worried about turning the car over enough to hear clicking valves when there is no oil in the motor.

 

what would make you turn motor over with no oil

 

By hand to check the camchain and timing.

 

how would you check the timing turning it by hand?

 

I think he was making sure the engine would turn.... i.e not seized cam chain tensioned etc. but that isnt the question i asked. Thanks for all the great advice I will definatly come back.

 

Un-oiled lifters and sticking Vcams?

 

You being sarcastic already, on your first day here? Great idea.

I'm not a mechanic nor have I been inside my engine but I've read plenty of posts and manuals so I'm going to throw a couple things out here and wonder why your buddy hasn't checked them since he considers himself competent enough to do this work himself.

1) The timing chain lacks tension as the tensioner requires oil pressure to function correctly, and as a result you are hearing noise from there.

2) The valves need to be adjusted using a set of feeler gauges and another specialized hand tool. This should be part of his engine prep anyway, along with replacement of components such as spark plugs, oil filter, etc.

There's tons of solid info here if you do a search on valve noise, but I don't think you did. I'm not trying to be a dick but I don't appreciate when people show up asking questions for which there are already answers that are quite accessible, and then act smug or sarcastic when people comment on relevant items that come to mind about flaws in the question.

Good luck and feel free to come back around but keep a good attitude please.