William,

I have experienced the same problem (noisy lifters); sometimes for a
second or two, other times for 5-10 minutes.  My search off the archives
turned up two solutions:

1) use a pint of Marvel Mystery Oil in the motor oil for last 100-200
miles before your oil changes (don�t overfill)
2) use 20W50

I'm trying the MMO treatment this week for the first time.  So far, no
tapping.  I also put a bottle in a full tank of gas; might be my
imagination, but the engine sounds a lot smoother to me.

~Eric~
'89 Westy
Vancouver, BC

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of developtrust
Sent: April 21, 2002 4:46 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Strange clacking (valve Lifter?) noise.

Every so often after my 1989 Vanagon GL has sit for about a day or two
without driving I hear an odd tapping coming from the engine. It does
not go
away while sitting at idle.

However, after driving a few minutes it goes away and does not appear
again
unless I let the van sit for two days or more.

Any advice or comment? Should I be concerned?

William
1989 Vanagon GL
1988 Mercedes 300SE

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