Fiat Barchetta oil recommendation

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That would be the wise way. And I just changed the timing belt
smirk.gif


looks like I'm screwed. But still a bit sceptical, there was no noise at all with 10W40!
 
Give us some more info. When does your lifter thick occur?
On cold start for a few seconds.
On cold motor .
On warm motor.
People complained on this site before how their engines sound ruff after OC with M1. You can always drain this oil into a clean container and try that Rimula you have. If it stops, you have your answer.
Other option for me would be to try LM hydro lifter additive, good stuff. More invasive method to fix this is as Jetronic already said; change lifters.
 
Originally Posted By: Popsy
That would be the wise way. And I just changed the timing belt
smirk.gif


looks like I'm screwed. But still a bit sceptical, there was no noise at all with 10W40!


you've only just changed the belt, the procedure is fresh in your head. NOW is the time to at least check the lifters and maybe replace the worst ones.
 
Originally Posted By: Jetronic
Originally Posted By: Popsy
That would be the wise way. And I just changed the timing belt
smirk.gif


looks like I'm screwed. But still a bit sceptical, there was no noise at all with 10W40!


you've only just changed the belt, the procedure is fresh in your head. NOW is the time to at least check the lifters and maybe replace the worst ones.

I wonder if he got that sound after cambelt change. Those are tricky without cam locks if never done before.
 
Originally Posted By: chrisri
Originally Posted By: Jetronic
Originally Posted By: Popsy
That would be the wise way. And I just changed the timing belt
smirk.gif


looks like I'm screwed. But still a bit sceptical, there was no noise at all with 10W40!


you've only just changed the belt, the procedure is fresh in your head. NOW is the time to at least check the lifters and maybe replace the worst ones.

I wonder if he got that sound after cambelt change. Those are tricky without cam locks if never done before.


true, but I've seen a few with slightly off timing that had flat spots, but never one which developped a ticking sound. I have seen a few worn tappets though, and a fair share of worn variators (I don't believe the Barchetta has a variator on the intake) but those sound like a diesel usually.

Maybe it's the tensioner making the ticking sound, if there's too much or not enough tension.
 
In fact it appears on warm/hot motor, no noise when cold.
I took time to change the belt because I felt I was unable to do it all by myself (I wasn't able to get the right timing with both cam, I'm not a very good mechanic unfortunately...), I required the help of a friend, he's a ferrari and alpine trained old school mechanic, no problem for him with an extra set of ha ds to get it right.
No noise after belt change and before oil change, there's a variator on the intake but it's fairly new and quiet.

I'll try some Rimula and see what happens... will change the lifters in the near future I guess
smirk.gif
 
It's good thing you can eliminate potential distribution issues since you got help from experienced mechanic. Try Rimula but rattle between 1500-3000 rpm are symptoms of faulty cam phase variator. I'm not arguing you, it could well be lifters, but 1.5k-3k rpm rattle are typical variator problem.

Edit; Forgot to mention, going a grade thicker (or Rimula since it's probably KV100 thicker) will help, but is only temporarily. As it worns more it would eventually rattle with 60 grade oil. Ask me how I know.
 
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Argh, variator is a different animal to replace! My friend lives at 700Km from me, he was there for a few days but...
In fact the noise appears only when slight charges are applied to motor, and disappears as soon as you put full throttle or accelerate less (hum, sorry, bad english).
I was told variator was responsible for some diesel noise, but I don't know much about this motor... now that you accuse the variator, I feel the noise coming from the side of the motor, I'm becoming paranoid
smile.gif
 
No need to be alarmed. Faulty cam phase variator won't hurt engine. You can drive like this. You will loose low end grunt, and fuel economy will suffer.
It works like this; from idle to about 1600 is deactivated then it kicks in to 4000 rpm at which point is deactivated again. Basically it advance inlet cam on lower rpm for better torque and driveability. On higher rpm it disengaged for power. It's controlled via ECU and solenoid, but it needs oil pressure to work. When it's worn it can't hold pressure, and mechanisms inside rattles.
 
I've known variators to get better after using high detergent synthetic oils. Probably cleaned up some gunk inside. If it's the variator, give the oil some time to possibly clean up the mess. how clean was the valve assembly?
 
Thank you for your advice!

The valve assembly is very dirty. I've decided to do frequent oil change in the following months to try to clean it a bit.

This afternoon I had an idea, after reading some story about faulty oil filter, I replaced the oil filter (and put back the very same M1 0W40 that was inside), noise is still there but it is much less noisy. Maybe it was faulty? It was a Purflux, replaced by another Purflux from different batch.
I will let the oil some time to clean a bit as you said, keep a short OCI, and hope things will get better...I'd like to wait at least a few months to spend more money for this car
shocked.gif


I've also replaced the spark plugs (not related but was needed lol).
 
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Yep, but it runs smoother with M1 right now!

I did not update but suspicious sound is gone now, variator appears to have been replaced sometimes ago, it is definitely not he original variator...the sound may have been caused by fulty oil filter and/or sludge "cleaned" by M1 and caught somewhere. Don't know, but no more noise for now
smile.gif
 
Digging the topic^^

Long story short, my Marea is sold and I have 10L of Rimula R6M left (bought 3x 5L on sale recently).
Can I use it in the Barchetta? I don't see why not, but just to be sure
smile.gif

Might be a bit SAPS heavy for the cat?
 
You can use it.....why heavy saps? At that time when your Barchetta was produced they were using API SJ/SL oils with lots of ZDDP....
 
Yes you can. It would be happier with 5w40 9.55535 H2/3 or Z2 but since you already have Rimula no harm if used in this engine. 10w40 was original spec, they changed it later in mid 2000s. Rimula is good oil.
 
You mentioned that "switch back" from semi syn 10w40 to synthetic 5w40 made by fiat some years ago.....due some oil cooking in galeries around muffler collector.....but rimula R6 is synthetic 10w40 oil.....!?
 
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In my experience with 1.8 vvt, 2.0 vvt and AR 16v Twin Spark engines hydro lifters and variators seems happier and less noisy with 5w40 oil.

It was general consensus in Alfa community back in a day that oil coking led to a bearing failures. Those engines had a tubular exhaust manifolds, and theory is that after shutdown oil in the galleries would get very hot. Eventually passages would shut down.
 
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