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Tapping and very hot engine, oil change not helped

I have a Rover 25, w-reg. Had a tapping coming from top of engine, drivers side. put a screw driver to ear and parts of engine,believe tapping is coming from under the part in engine with VCV on it. Have had recent head gasket cover replaced and oil change but still tapping. Also engine seems to be getting very very hot fast and have had to top up water twice in two months. cant see a leak tho. Tapping seems to be more noticable when car is ticking over idle. any help would be much appreciated, im a novice of car engines. really dont want to spend anymore money on car than the cars value. thanks

Update

hi oldturkey, tks for advice. its a 1,8 gti if thats helps. the mechanic said i had a blown head gasket but then decided i didnt and it was just the cover to that gasket. he replaced it and cleaned it all up and no oil leaked overnight from it or since from what i van tell. iam extremely worried about how hot its getting but its running fine despite that lol.Alittle white smoke after oil change but nothing sinc then. The cars old and im at that point where im thinking hmmmmm!! scrap of it before wasting anymore money trying to fix it. just spend 240 getting it through m.o.t so didnt wnat to do that. mechanic told me tapping ment i should change oil so i did but still tapping. fast tapp but not overly loud.any futher advice would be helpful, thanks

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I sure do know what you are saying. I am one of those people that rather tries to fix things, even if it is pretty $$$, but as long as it saves me from car payments I am okay with it. You are right of course, sometimes we just have to do it. Once you checked your plugs and your exhaust, let us know so we can continue to help you with it. The "getting hot" and using coolant, sure has me going "hhhhmmmm, could be the head gasket". Check your oil as well and see what it looks like.

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kate, does yours sound like this? Apparently the prime suspect is an over tensioned main cambelts (timing belt)

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hi oldturky.hope ur fine fit n dandy? checked plugs,all oil on them, oil leaaking now too so is head gasket. not cure wat tapping is? think geeting a new car i shall. but that will be an old one to coz can only afford 1000, would you know how important having a full services history on a car is? as apose to part or none?

kate

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Sorry to hear that Kate. Any chance you could get yours fixed for the 1000? Service histories are only as good as the people who keep it ;-). Make sure that you check out the type of vehicle that you have in mind before hand. Check for common problems on the model that you'd like.

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kate, do you know the engine size of it? They changed the valve cover gasket or the cylinder head gasket? If your coolant "disappears" and you do not have a leak, it is possible that coolant enters your combustion chamber due to a leaking gasket or a cracked cylinder head ( there are a few other possibilities as well, but those are the most likely. Check the color of the exhaust fumes, see if they really grey, really black or blue. Pull your spark plugs and take a look at the face, see if they are really oily or rusty brown. The tapping could be a bad (stuck) lifter, valve spring, bad cam, broken rings etc. You definitely would have to investigate further. Let us know what you want to do and may be we can get further into detail if you are up for it.

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will check plugs tomorrow. what will it indicate if they are not as they should be?

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hi Kate, it is the way they look that will tell you a whole lot about the ongoings in your combustion chamber. I will post an image with some spark plug faces with my answer. Thank you for accepting my answer.

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kate will be eternally grateful.
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