For a whiel now Ive had a tapping noise from the engine when its cold. I was pretty sure it was piston slap because it goes away when the engine is warm but most members said it was the tappet noise and all it required was penrite 10/40 oil. Well the oil went in the other day and and the sound and the roughness when cold still remains.

Spoke to a mate today and he also thinks its piston slap. The car still runs great when warm, fuel efficiency is still good im running a 10.0 average right now and getting over 600km to a tank doing mostly city driving. However if it is piston slap I'd like to do something about it before it gets worse.

So how much will it cost to fix piston slap in a garage? I dont have enough mechanical ability to do it myself. Also based on a suggestion by a mate, if im gunna have the engine out to fix the slap, what could I do at the same time to fix the car and also give it a performance upgrade. My mate drives mostly commodores so he was suggesting stroking it but Im not sure if this is feasable with magnas. So any suggestions?

Im not made of cash but I can get $3000 together easy enough and a bit more with a few weeks after that. I know this probley wont much a dint in some suggestions but I need an idea

For a whiel now Ive had a tapping noise from the engine when its cold. I was pretty sure it was piston slap because it goes away when the engine is warm but most members said it was the tappet noise and all it required was penrite 10/40 oil. Well the oil went in the other day and and the sound and the roughness when cold still remains.

Spoke to a mate today and he also thinks its piston slap. The car still runs great when warm, fuel efficiency is still good im running a 10.0 average right now and getting over 600km to a tank doing mostly city driving. However if it is piston slap I'd like to do something about it before it gets worse.

So how much will it cost to fix piston slap in a garage? I dont have enough mechanical ability to do it myself. Also based on a suggestion by a mate, if im gunna have the engine out to fix the slap, what could I do at the same time to fix the car and also give it a performance upgrade. My mate drives mostly commodores so he was suggesting stroking it but Im not sure if this is feasable with magnas. So any suggestions?

Im not made of cash but I can get $3000 together easy enough and a bit more with a few weeks after that. I know this probley wont much a dint in some suggestions but I need an idea
:doubt: How utterly typical of a commodore driver "Stroke it bro"

Have you had a mechanic look at it? I've been on this site for a few years now and although that doesnt qualify me to diagnose your problem I haven't ever heard of a 3rd gen suffering from this problem.
Also, if its piston slap wouldnt you be loosing oil past the rings? and wouldnt the engine feel weird? being that the pistons would be moving side to side?
I'd get it checked out by a pro first. I'd put money on it being your tappets are buggered

its tappet noise mate... changing oil doesnt always fix it...

Yep, the tappets wear out and stop working right.

Easy fix, remove the rocker gear and replace.

I hope you guys are right about the tappet noise, my old TF had the noise but it wasn't this bad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZnHlrOucY4&feature=channel_page

Well lets say it is the tappets, any idea on a figure for having the tappets or what ever else is making the noise replaced?

So how much will it cost to fix piston slap in a garage? I dont have enough mechanical ability to do it myself. Also based on a suggestion by a mate, if im gunna have the engine out to fix the slap, what could I do at the same time to fix the car and also give it a performance upgrade. My mate drives mostly commodores so he was suggesting stroking it but Im not sure if this is feasable with magnas. So any suggestions?


I suggest you find some friends with atleast some mechanical know-how.

The chances of your car having piston slap is about the same as me getting lucky with the Olsen twins. You would be using oil, blowing smoke, and it would be a louder knocking noise rather than a tappet sound.

Go to a mechanic, and ask them what the noise is (if I was a betting man, I'de say its the tappets)

sounds like my old second gen. Mechanic replaced tappets when doing the piston rings. Sound went away. . .are tappets the same as hydraulic lifters?

Its not piston slap as others said sounds like the lifters.

']:doubt: How utterly typical of a commodore driver "Stroke it bro"

Have you had a mechanic look at it? I've been on this site for a few years now and although that doesnt qualify me to diagnose your problem I haven't ever heard of a 3rd gen suffering from this problem.
Also, if its piston slap wouldnt you be loosing oil past the rings? and wouldnt the engine feel weird? being that the pistons would be moving side to side?
I'd get it checked out by a pro first. I'd put money on it being your tappets are buggered

i had my short block replaced under warranty for piston slap issues in my TW VRX,was quiet as a mouse when cold but had a knocking,(not ticking sound) that sounded deep in the block,luckily there was a mitsu engineer at the dealer when i took it in and he said it was a problem with the last magnas as they has whatever was left thrown in them and some pistons werent to spec etc,so who knows!,what i do know is it went just as hard as normal,used no oil and didnft feel odd at all to drive,just sounded like a john deer,that was all,thought it was lifetrs myself until i tried 4 different oil ranging from full synthectics to mineral in all different viscosities,didnt do jack for me

stroking is common place among the V8 brigade,works a treat aswell too!, who wouldnt want 355 cubes from a 308 and the stacks of torque gained by this procedure!,has anyone strocked a magna engine by a decent amount yet?

Its not piston slap as others said sounds like the lifters.

Too easy any idea on how much to fix? I really dont have the time to do it, I'd rather drop it off at a mechanics in the morning and pick it up when I leave work.

Too easy any idea on how much to fix? I really dont have the time to do it, I'd rather drop it off at a mechanics in the morning and pick it up when I leave work.

Lifters are about 15 bucks each from mitsi, you need 24 + 3-4 hours for fitment at 80-100 an hour. I cbf reaching for a calculator but i think about 500-700 off the top of my head

i had my short block replaced under warranty for piston slap issues in my TW VRX,was quiet as a mouse when cold but had a knocking,(not ticking sound) that sounded deep in the block,luckily there was a mitsu engineer at the dealer when i took it in and he said it was a problem with the last magnas as they has whatever was left thrown in them and some pistons werent to spec etc,so who knows!,what i do know is it went just as hard as normal,used no oil and didnft feel odd at all to drive,just sounded like a john deer,that was all,thought it was lifetrs myself until i tried 4 different oil ranging from full synthectics to mineral in all different viscosities,didnt do jack for me

stroking is common place among the V8 brigade,works a treat aswell too!, who wouldnt want 355 cubes from a 308 and the stacks of torque gained by this procedure!,has anyone strocked a magna engine by a decent amount yet?

Forged crank with different journals would increase the stroke. Not sure if its possible or been done in an aussie 6G74

Forged crank with different journals would increase the stroke. Not sure if its possible or been done in an aussie 6G74

Im thinkin mitsu stroked and bored the 3.5 to the current 3.8. Going on very flimsy ideas here but it wouldn't be that hard to take the 6G74 out to a 4.0lt motor. Imagine that a 4lt V6 Magna. Epic!

Im thinkin mitsu stroked and bored the 3.5 to the current 3.8. Going on very flimsy ideas here but it wouldn't be that hard to take the 6G74 out to a 4.0lt motor. Imagine that a 4lt V6 Magna. Epic!

Yeah no, not enough meat in the bores to get that far out oversize, would have a lof of problems with cooling and such.

And its not as easy as throwing another crank in, new rods etc are also needed for length

custom length rods are more easily attainable than a forged crank. Well if you look stateside that is . . .

I worked as a mechanic at a Mits dealership for 5 years in the late 90's.
I did come across a TF magna with 1 cracked piston. Even that didn't make a louder noise than tappets.
If you want to get a good idea of piston slap. Listen to a 92-94 2.2 Honda accord.

You can use the 3.5 crank, regrind and offset the journals down to 50mm, custom rods, retain the 3.5L pistons and pin setup. May need to relieve the crank a touch. The downside is increased wear at the journal, higher rod:stroke ratio, and to gain a few hundred cc. Maybe worth it.

You can use the 3.5 crank, regrind and offset the journals down to 50mm, custom rods, retain the 3.5L pistons and pin setup. May need to relieve the crank a touch. The downside is increased wear at the journal, higher rod:stroke ratio, and to gain a few hundred cc. Maybe worth it.

Its an interesting concept, if you had a 380 engine it would be easier being already roughly 3800cc. Shouldnt require much more modification to relieve a further 200cc

But right now I think Im gunna just settle for replacing the lifters. Thats all that has to be replaced to get rid of the noise right?

i can see why your mate thought it was piston slap.....
you said he drives commo's and we all know that early LS1's came with piston slap as a factory fitted feature :bowrofl: :bowrofl: