Had the car on track on Sunday and all seemed to be well until late morning when I came off track and there seemed to be an audible noise coming from the top (top left) of the engine. This then stopped play and I left the car to cool over lunch. Came to start it again and the problem persisted after lunch so left it alone. Then decided to limp home (again without the engine seeming to have any issues) and I got to a petrol station approx 5 miles from track and in which time it had stopped tapping/knocking and it didnt reappear on the drive home. Stupidly I didn't take a video at the time. I didn't notice the noise whilst on track so I'm not sure how long it was making the noise for and it certainly didn't effect the way the car drove. The confusing part - the noise didn't get any louder but did increase in occurrence when RPM's increase which seem strange given its location. It didn't throw up any fault codes either and the engine oil looks fine. Potential oil starvation (wishful thinking i have that much grip)? Sticky hydraulic lifter? Belt related? Dephayser pulley? Valve's? Car needs a new clutch, flywheel & cambelt so it can be timed up correctly its not a major issue if it is going to require work to fix it.
Top engine mount is right next to where you have circled, maybe that need replacing. Do you get any vibrations through the cabin, even when idling at lights?
That's where the dephaser is located and I know what it sounds like on a clio, but not on a Megane. You tried the screwdriver trick to locate the knocking more precisely? There are videos on Youtube which give examples of the Dephaser knocking. When was the last time the dephasher was changed, as it usually gets done when you do the Cambelt on Clio's.
No dephaser on the 225/r26? Its hard to say what was tapping without a video of the noise. Ride it out a bit see if it comes back
Rules that out then. Maybe a stickly lifter? Yeah foolish not to take a video at the time, i was just trying to work out what was up and get back on track! Think that will be the plan, will get one more trackday in this year and if it persists (or kills it) get it fixed next year at the same time as the other bits No, nothing more than the vibratechnic mounts give off anyway. My gut is telling me it was belt related (cambelt or aux) given the symptoms and could have been problems due to expansion from the heat and as its cooled down its disappeared. We shall see.
This may be a wild shot in the dark but you said you went off track? Did you go into the gravel? Maybe kicked some up into the bay that ended up knocking around until it fell out?
First sentence. Now does he mean came off track as in went off the track or came into the pits? Who knows, that's why it's a shot in the dark.
as said no dephaser pulley on the Meg, is it a fast tapping sound? also what mods if any have you got?
I have had a tapping sound as the engine settles down for quite a while, it's not there at idle but at between roughly 1000 - 1500rpm. I have been told by another forum member that it is a noisy cam follower, he had the same and was told "it's nothing to worry about". The sound is embarrassing and annoying but the car runs fine and isn't down on power or anything.
Yeah meant into the pits on this occasion. Hmmmm could be the case, thanks for the info. Something worth looking at especially if I need the belts doing again to get the timing 100%. Kicking myself that it I didn't film.
