Hydraulic lifters/lash adjusters

What is the best additive to use to try to quieten noisy hydraulic lifter(s)?

My wife and I had a noisy Vauxhall Meriva sometime back, which became very noticeably quieter after I switched to fully synthetic engine oil - I was astonished at how smoother and quieter it became.
However... this is not helpful if you are already using fully synthetic oil and you would need to consider the viscosity of (usually) thinner synthetic oil.
Moreover is the Jimny engine suited to fully synthetic oil? A lot of main dealers still seem to use semi synthetic.

A different situation but possibly of interest, the vintage cars I'm involved with, don't like synthetic oil as it is too thin for the plain bearings these engines have, as well as the larger tolerances and so tend to leak.
Some people use Castor based oil (which smells great) such as "Castrol R" but this is also known to leave gummy residue in components like piston rings. Castor oil is known for its use in stunt aircraft because when the engine is inverted or subjected to negative g-forces the oil can easily drain away from important components and castor maintains a wet residue long after supply loss.

Slick50 perhaps?
There are however many arguments that oil additives are nothing more than 'snake-oil'
If your engine is 'tappety' then putting something 'gloopy' in there may quieten it down, but something else might suffer, possibly the oil pump in having to shift treacle. Hiding the symptoms of a problem, doesn't necessarily fix the problem.

Sorry if my reply is a bit gloomy

I changed to Mobil One and I can't say I noticed the valve train getting quieter but it did improve the VVT. Much more noticeable as it comes in and you do get a bit of a surge from it, not much...... but something has improved and thats all valve train related.

For the extra cost, £40 more over a years motoring, I would suggest you try it.

sniper

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Lambert wrote: I use carlube C3 5w30 in ours and they're all very quiet.

I don't know what was in the engine when I got it; it was black when I drained it and the garage told me they had put in new oil the day before it was delivered (it was black then) but the book of words states 5w30 so I recently put it in and oh dear it all got a lot worse. The book also says 10w30 but I didn't have that lying around so I used 10w40 and it got better to the point of how it was in the start with just one tappet ticking. The other 23 seem fine.

10w30 is not easy to find. Carlube do 10w30, I found it online but I am not sure if it is the hot end (SAE30 or even 40) of the spectrum that I need or the low end (10W). I'd hate to put in a 10w30 and get the awful tappet noise again.

I personally think 5w30 is partly recommended to aid in achieving good mpg which is great in a new engine. This motor has done 80K and is 20 years old! Having said that the 5w was charted for really cold climate starting and 10w for not so cold regions; in this climate 10w is right according to the manual.
It's a lot of money down the drain if I use this

or

and the tappety noise gets worse (like it was embarrassing to drive) and then have to change it-
Fully synth is harder to source in 10w30 whereas 10w40 is available and cheaper.
The main thing is I was wondering what additive to use to clean out the hydraulic lash adjuster and what oil to put in after an oil change.

Lambert wrote: I know that replacement of lifters isn't exactly a 10 minutes diy job but I'd be investigating none the less.

Yeah it is a £1000 job. I spoke to a local garage today who suggested engine flush but I am not too happy about that.

What do you think?

Apparently according to Google the V6 has filters for each lasher which can get clogged.

Max Headroom wrote: My wife and I had a noisy Vauxhall Meriva sometime back, which became very noticeably quieter after I switched to fully synthetic engine oil - I was astonished at how smoother and quieter it became.
However... this is not helpful if you are already using fully synthetic oil and you would need to consider the viscosity of (usually) thinner synthetic oil.
Moreover is the Jimny engine suited to fully synthetic oil? A lot of main dealers still seem to use semi synthetic.



Slick50 perhaps?


Sorry if my reply is a bit gloomy

I wrote a reply to this but it went missing.
Essentially I agree.
I see that 5w30 is for use in engines where barometric temperature is down to -40 degrees Celsius

Lambert wrote: I would agree with an engine flush as new oil shouldn't be black in a matter of days. Look at forte or stp as they are about the least snake oily of all the snake oils.

Thanks.
I wanted something that is not so aggressive as to melt down other things which is why I was a bit reluctant to use a flushing oil itself but also my problem is what oil to put in after. I went on Castrol, Esso, Shell, Carlube and uncle Tom Cobblers' sites and got just about all different recommendations for this particular motor from 5w30 through 10w30 to 10w40 in fully synthetic or semi synthetic. One even recommended mineral oil and I think there was a 5w40 too. I am tempted by the 5w40 full synth though.
All I can say is I used 5w30 and the clatter was awful - it was still nice and clean when I drained that but it was only the next day. I switched to 10w40 semi synth and things improved 85% though it clatters a fair bit when cold still so I do think the oil pressure struggles a bit with a cold engine using 10w.
This engine is too complex for me to mess with so I called in to a local garage yesterday while passing and he said normally hydraulic tappets sound a bit tinnier but it is horses for courses. He is going to check it out and see what it will cost to strip it down The Mitsubishi V6 is an overly complicated engine IMHO. It is nice to go to a garage where they can take a look and listen on the spot. I went to a Toyota garage a few years ago and all they offered was to book it in to be put on a machine!
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll look for the STP one.