'Tappy' Alfa Romeo 156

I have an Alfa 156 which was running sweet except a bit tappy on cold start up. The noise lasts about 10 secs then is fine. I have replaced the cambelt as the car had 55,000 on the clock and nobody could tell me if it had been changed before.

I have done loads of cambelt changes in the past so am pretty competent, I have the tools to do the job - camlocks, pully holder, TDC tool and gauge.

When I started the engine (fired up straight away) it now sounds tappity. The car as stood for 3-4 months. It's my first Alfa belt. I had marked crank pully also. So all the marks lined up both ways - I was wondering if I have missed something.

Asked on 20 March 2012 by eckinator

Answered by Alan Ross

Hi there, well we would assume that the replacement cam belt is ok, and the engine is running ok.

It may well be that given the age and that the engine has been standing that the hydraulic tappets are sticking.

You could try usuing a cleaning type fluid (Wynes etc) or the other way is to remove them and clean/replace them.

Tags: tappets unexplained noises technical issues owning

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