Similar noise, bad tappets:

Re: engine noise fixed

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Yup looks like they are only an artifact if the manufacturing process. Not to sidetrack the thread, but I'd be interested in hearing more about oil filter conversuons for AH, if anyone has info, PM me.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice and suggestions. I clearly have some significant diagnosing to perform. But it is really helpful to have all the leads, so thanks for that.

On the rockers, there are two holes which are used to drill oil holes through the bushes. The one mentioned above is at the end of the arm above the pushrod, and as that thread mentions, it is supposed to be closed up after you drill down to the bushing. There is a second hole at the top of the rocker, right above the rocker shaft. This one is used to drill a second oil hole in the bushing. But I guess it is supposed to remain open, but whoever worked on my engine didn't realize that only one of the holes is supposed to be sealed before the engine is operated.

Mxfrank, I am happy to hijack my own thread. It appears to me that many Healey owners have converted to standard screw-on oil filters. I am surprised that w115 owners haven't done the same. Moss Motors and Denis Welch in the UK (and probably everyone else) all sell a cartridge oil filter conversion kit. It allows you to use a standard Fram or Wix (or whoever) filter. Many of the oil filter conversion kits also allow you to attach an oil cooler, since Healey's tend to run hot in traffic.

Here is Moss's product (with oil cooler).
MossMotors.com - Restoration Parts And Accessories For British Cars
If you click the instructions button on the link, you can see better pictures of the oil filter conversion on pages 9 and 10.

Here is Denis Welch's version:
Spin on Filter Kit BN4 - BJ8- Our adapter replaces the complete oil filter housing at the

Thanks again everyone.

__________________
1968 220D, w115, /8, OM615, Automatic transmission.
My 1987 300TD wagon was sold and my 2003 W210 E320 wagon was totaled (sheds tear).

If you need help with either cooling or oil filter conversion, contact me offline, I may have solutions for you.

Kerry very good idea

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. PP members are the best. It will be a few weeks before I have will have time to work on the car again, but I will be sure to post any findings that I have.

__________________
1968 220D, w115, /8, OM615, Automatic transmission.
My 1987 300TD wagon was sold and my 2003 W210 E320 wagon was totaled (sheds tear).

If this was mine and a true classic .The head would be off now and on my bench for inspection .Might be something on top of the piston ,and to keep running it will harm this great engine. Or even broken piston ring ,valve spring .Untill inspection you wont find it .

OK, so I finally listened to the video. That has to be a bent push rod.

I don't know what these cost but it might be time to throw in a fresh set of them. I know that means a lot of work but it also means that you will find one of these that has flattened out on one or both ends or is bent. It does not take much of a bend to get a sound like this.

A good way to find a bent push rod is to stop the engine and then turn it over by hand. At some point each rod will have enough slack to be turned by hand and when you start to twirl them around any push rod that is no longer true will be easy to spot as it wobbles in your fingers.

Then you could just remove the adjusting screw from the rocker arm, push the rocker over and pull that rod out and replace it with a new one.

If that kills the noise then plan on doing all of the push rods since they will all be just a little more worn than they should be. When one of them finally fails the others are not far behind.

I worked on these engine back in the 60s. Noisy tappet is easy to trace. The spec' we used for tappet clearance ( Lash.) was 10 thou cold IIRC, but I/we always set them at 12 thou.

We used a narrow feeler gauge strip so the feeler didn't bridge the wear in the rocker tip and chew up a perfectly good set of feelers.

Adjustment was carried out while the engine was ticking over......the slower the rpm's the better....... if you then tried pushing a 13 or 14 thou feeler into the valve gap, it shouldn't go but if you forced it, to you'd get a slight miss on that cylinder as the feeler held the valve off it's seat..

Try putting a feeler in each valve gap and see if noise diminishes or stops while the engine is running at tick over. ( Idle. )

The pistons used on these engines are massive and have 5 piston rings. four above the 'gudgeon pin" ( Wrist pin.) and one below. Unless cracked, they make little if any noise, even worn.

There was a mod to increase oiling to the rocker shaft by adding and external oil line from the block gallery to the cylinder head behind #6 cylinder. It needed a restrictor in the line otherwise the center main bearing got less oil pressure and would wear prematurely..

The rocker shaft wear, were the rocker bore rides on the underside of the shaft will not make this noise if tappet clearance is correct. ( Lash.)

I recommend putting an old feeler in the gap with engine running to see if any are making a noise.

Of course, a worn lifter face that's gone concave and/or cam lobe will greatly increase lash noise.

Will be interested to read the outcome.



.

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Update:
I got to visit the car yesterday and today and did as many diagnoses as possible. Unfortunately, I was unable to change the noise with anything I tried:
1) I pushed hard on the pushrod end of each rocker and could not get the noise to change.
2) I pushed hard on the valve end of each rocker and could not get the noise to change.
3) I removed one spark plug at a time and the noise didn't change. The engine rpm dropped slightly, but the knocking was the same. I got shocked a few times which was fun.
4) I ran Marvel Mystery Oil in the fuel and oil for only a short drive, but the noise didn't change.

I collected an oil sample and will send that to Blackstone and update this thread when possible. I took the sample before I added any MMO.

I also did a compression check. 145-160 psi cold, dry, all spark plugs out, foot on gas pedal. The all jumped up 5-7 psi if I added a squirt of oil to each cylinder. So compression is okay in magnitude and somewhat balanced between cylinders.

I took off the rocker assembly and some of the rocker pads (at the valve stem) had erosion. I remounted everything and did a valve adjust, and no matter how tight I made those valves, I could not get the noise to change. So while I still think it is valve train related, I cannot figure this one out.

I removed and inspected all the pushrods. They are all straight. None have any damage at the rocker end. All have small amounts of erosion at the cam end.

I took off the oil pan. That was fun. There are several small metallic shards/wires in it and a couple larger chunks of black maybe rust-like material. And lots of little silver and/or reddish flakes.

I cannot see any damage from below the engine. The cam looks fine. Nothing moves when I push on it. But I am pretty ignorant of what I should even be looking at from below.

I will post some pictures in case anyone is interested. The piston faces appear really rough, almost like they are rusty, but that makes no sense since I believe they are aluminum.

Unfortunately, I think the car has beaten my mechanical abilities. I don't know what to do next besides pull the head, and I am probably not qualified to pull the head. At some point, I just need to accept failure and move on.

So I guess my question is: if my next step is to take the car to a mechanic, should I put it all together (oil pan, oil pan gasket, rocker assembly, rocker cover, add oil, new oil filter, etc.) so they can hear it run. Or is it better the leave it in parts so they don't have to waste time taking it all apart again?

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__________________
1968 220D, w115, /8, OM615, Automatic transmission.
My 1987 300TD wagon was sold and my 2003 W210 E320 wagon was totaled (sheds tear).

Here is a pic with my cheapo USB borescope. You can see the roughness of the piston face, as well as some scoring on the cylinder walls. Wonder if it is piston slap? The noise is most noticable at idle. I tried to blip the throttle to see if it goes away under load. And it is true that you hear it much less when the engine is above idle, but it may just be other engine noises drown out the knock. I guess my point is, I don't know if the noise goes away when you blip the throttle, or if the other noises just increase in volume and overwhelm the knock.

Also, here is the junk from the bottom of the oil pan. It is sitting on a paper towel folded twice. So the largest chunk of material is about in inch long. Much of it is magnetic, including those little wirey strands. Any ideas what that sort of material suggests has happened to the engine?

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__________________
1968 220D, w115, /8, OM615, Automatic transmission.
My 1987 300TD wagon was sold and my 2003 W210 E320 wagon was totaled (sheds tear).

Given the age of the pistons they don't look all that bad. I have seen worse.

The pits are caused by low octane gas exploding from compression or unevenly when fired. They normally start to crumble around the edges but they can blow out pits like this as well.

I am rather stumped by the noise myself. If the push rods are OK then the only thing I can think of now is wear on the shaft the rockers ride on. This would mean removing the rocker assembly and removing them to check for wear.