It sounds as if my valves are tapping for about a second whenever I start up my 1.8, especially when it is about 10-15 degrees outside, is this normal? any ideas as to why this might be happening?

 

Hydrolic oil lifters.. Its pretty normal... You have the correct oil grade in that engine? If its too thick those lifters will be noisy.

 

Typical of the 1.8t on cold starts. if it doesnt go away in 5 minutes or so you probably have slight sludge buildup around your lifters. You can use an oil cleaning additive (I used Justice Bros and it worked quite well) or try going to a lighter synth oil to see if it helps the problem.

 

Same thing happens to my car. I dont like the sound. It "claps" on startup.

I have a 2004 3.0.....

[>:]

 

My try seafoam to clean up the fuel injection system and combustion chamber. Just did this on my car recently. Do a search on this forum for "seafoam". There is a link to a nice write up for 2.8s; however, there is mention in that thread of what to do with the 1.8.

 

mine does the same..

 

Im laughing....love the brutally honest description of your car.

 

hahaha. Yeah, my sh*t is stock, typically dirty as f*ck on the outside and is usually broken in some way shape or form. Hopefully I'll knock the cruise control and sunroof problems off my sig before too long.

 

Does the noise ever return on hot idle? If so, this would indicate oil starvation of the cam chain adjuster, probably due to leaky cam seals.

Are you using a 0W-40 or 5W-40 oil? A course of Auto-RX may help, as well.

 

Good call on the hot idle..When was the last time you oil was changed?