ok so my trusty old merc sprinter is sounding tappety and i have been advised that running some 5w 40 fully synthetic oil will help as it is the lifters that are the problem?

i generally do my own mechanics but dont ever open up engines or anything major like that and to be honest im a bit confused at this issue since there is so much conflicting info on oil when i search google

a little helpful advice would be much appreciated

its a ’96 208 (2.3 non turbo) with 180k and doesnt smoke or anything nasty like that its just noisy and i want to fix it before it gets worse

Checkyour oil level first and work form there. top u/ change but if your changing it you might as well change the oil filter too. Might help

as of oil weights go with what ever was in it origanaly, some are advised for different makes of car/van but at that age it probably wouldn’t matter to much.

Don’t be expecting wonders though. when was your timing belt changed last. Might need doing or tightning up.

(home mechanic too, but worked inside engins on plenty of stuff.

thanks scott, yeah oil levels are fine, just above halfway between low and high.
its a double timing chain on the sprinters and is within the mileage spec but i will get it checked.

the problem got significantly worse sounding after the last oil change which was in the autumn and was the specified stuff but it was standard priced stuff and i had gtmagnatex in it before.

A very simplistic explanation of multigrade oils.
The lower the number the thinner the oil so 5 is very runny and 90 is syrupy.
The first number in 5w40 indicates that when cold is a very runny 5 oil that will get around the engine and up to the top end very fast on start up. The 40 is the viscosity of the oil when hot.
Older engines tend to work better on thicker oils eg 20w50 and more modern designs work better on thinner oil such 5w30.
The above is a massive generalisation so in all cases go with the engine manufacturers or a marque specialists recommendation.

i wouldn’t put 5w oil in an old high mileage lump, it’ll be too thin and it’ll use more of it.

ok there is too much info on the internet, im just going to go with you guys and run 10w 40 but maybe get some more expensive stuff like mobil or magantex

cant get a filter today anyway, the only motorfactors open on a sunday didnt have a filter 🙁

just cos it sounds like an old vw air-cooled that’s not necessarily bad is it ? 😉

IRRC (but I may be wrong) the tensioners on a timing chain require a suitable oil pressure to keep them tight. If yours started sounding worse after the last oil change it may be wrong type/amount of oil.
chains last longer than belt but aren’t infalable, a change of chain and tensioner now and again won’t hurt.

interesting. think it may be time to go and see the very competent but very expensive guys at merctech and get them to look at my timing chain. still needs an oil change though….
does the oil get drained to change the timing chain? ie would it be advisable to do both at once?

I formulate engine oil for a living.

Just use the quality specification and grade of oil that is recommended in the manual

Fully synthetic will make no difference at all to your valve train.

At the same grade a 5W oil will have a thinner base stock oil than a 10W. Your bearings will probably not notice the difference but its not worth it for slightly easier starting in the winter.

does the oil get drained to change the timing chain? ie would it be advisable to do both at once?

I’ve never met an engine where the oil has to be drained to change the timing chain/belt. However, it’s often worth changing the water pump at the same time – sometimes it’s driven by the timing (in which case it’s definitely worth changing, as if it seizes it breaks the timing), sometimes it’s just in the same part of the engine and requires the same bits to be taken off for access.

The first number in 5w40 indicates that when cold is a very runny 5 oil that will get around the engine and up to the top end very fast on start up. The 40 is the viscosity of the oil when hot.

Except oil actually gets runnier when hot. 5W40 multigrade is equivalent to 5W single grade when cold and 40 single grade when hot (still runnier than it was when cold, but not as runny as a 5W single grade would be when hot).

“Bob is the oil guy” for engine oil discussion.
Excellent resource but differing opinions on best base stock etc.

ok great advice thanks.
so 10w 40 semi synthetic is specified so will go for that. so my next question is this;

how much difference is there between ‘carlube’ which seems to be the cheapest at about £50 and mobil or magnatex at about £80?….will the more expensive oil be worth the extra cash?

Are the tappets hydraulic? In which case, if it’s louder on start up and whilst the engine gets to temp, it may be that there is wear in the bore that a bucket type tappet is housed. As the engine warms and gets to temperature, the buckets expand slightly, but enough to close the gap.

A flush with flushing oil and then fresh engine oil to the recommended spec along with a new oil filter will help, however if the noise is due to high mileage wear, there’s not much you can do about it, apart from some dismantling.

Unless of course the noise is coming from the fuel pump, or a dodgy injector 😉

Yeah, hydraulic tappets, the noise is under heavy load ie going up a hill when carring weight, well it’s constant but louder then, not noticable at start up, I’m not going to mess about with unspecified oils following the advice above and will speak to a merc mechanic up the road but I can’t afford any major work so oil change first then see what happens I am losing a bit of power though, I don’t have to watch the speedo to keep it at 70 on the motorway anymore 😉 fingers crossed its just a dose of crap oil from the last oil change

how much difference is there between ‘carlube’ which seems to be the cheapest at about £50 and mobil or magnatex at about £80?….will the more expensive oil be worth the extra cash?

In your circumstances – not a lot.
All oils on sale have to meet all sorts of standards so even the cheap crap from ASDA will be fine in your ‘elderly’ engine.
In my old Landrovers I used to buy 20L drums of bog-standard 10w-40 oil from the motor factors, and change it every 5k miles.

If you were running a high performance, or very new engine then you really are better off going with either the OEM recommendations, or something posh.

In your position i’d do an Engine flush (lots of options from the local motor factors) change the filter and stick some Carlube 10w-40 in it and see what happens.

There is a lot of bulls**t spoken about motor oil (bit ‘like grease/chain lube for bikes) with people insisting they have to use the best you can buy, and they can really feel the difference, etc.
However regardless of the price you pay for your oil, it’ll still be killed by the same things – water (oil is hygroscopic and absorbs water) heat, chemical change (it becomes acidic) and movement (google ‘molecular chain scission’ to find out more)
you’re better off putting cheap stuff in an old engine and changing it more often.

Personally I mever flush an engine.
The solvents and oils in the flushing stuff will remain in the engine after flushing. This will corrupt the new oil and change its behaviour (a bit like a small amount of wd40 will thin down a lot of gunk on your bike chain).
If your oil is really bad then I would just do a straight change with cheap oil of the correct viscosity and then change it again in a few weeks or months.
That way you progressively dilute and remove any nasties in the old oil.

this place is great isnt it? thanks for all the advice guys. i do love this van and want it to last.
for the record i dont like flushing with different stuff either, ive always just bought an extra litre of whatever it is thats going through and ‘washed’ the last bit of crap out with it…easy when its a 9l sump though there is always a litre extra