Diesel tap, tap, tap on idle

[20Expy]

Our Expy occasionally sounds like a diesel, when idling, even after a warm start where the engine was sitting for about less than an hour and the water temp at 1/4 way to hot. Below is a short video from the front driver side wheel well and you can clearly hear it even when standing next to the front doors. For reference, cam phasers are done at 36,000 km about 2 years ago. Now it has 52,000 km. Any advice would be really appreciated, before we bring it into service in a week! Thanks y'all!

EDIT: Sorry, had trouble attaching video file.
Retried using link, pls tell me if it doean't work.

New video by Minh An

photos.app.goo.gl

 

[Mediamonkey11]

Wondering if you got the older phaser design, please to keep us updated!

 

[20Expy]

Wondering if you got the older phaser design, please to keep us updated!

Do you perhaps know when the new phaser design was implemented? Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[Dice Roll]

They did some update in April of 19. Not sure about later changes. These engines are noisey at idle. I’m used to such things with the old cars I’ve had and the ls1 I bought new. I just drove a 24 Tahoe for ten days on a trip and it makes a racket as well. That one had 900 miles on it when I picked it up.

 

[SyndicateZ]

Mines sounded like that, like a constant tapping ofbthe engine and speed up or down with rpm's. Alsmot sounded like a bad lifter tick. Ended up being the phasers. Which was weird because I didnt notice any phaser rattle at cold start.

 

[20Expy]

Mines sounded like that, like a constant tapping ofbthe engine and speed up or down with rpm's. Alsmot sounded like a bad lifter tick. Ended up being the phasers. Which was weird because I didnt notice any phaser rattle at cold start.

That's interesting. Mine also doesn't rattle upon startup, at least yet. When did you get your cam phasers replaced and what mileage are you at now?

 

[SyndicateZ]

That's interesting. Mine also doesn't rattle upon startup, at least yet. When did you get your cam phasers replaced and what mileage are you at now?

I bought it used with 56,800 miles in Sep 2022. Had the phasers replaced at 58,*** miles as the tapping became present noticable/obvious. Im at 69,470 now. The service writer assumed it was a lifter when I had him listen. They removed the valve covers and didnt notice anything wrong but changed out the phasers and that made the tapping go away. I am not sure if this was the first phaser replacement

 

[slow3v]

Our Expy occasionally sounds like a diesel, when idling, even after a warm start where the engine was sitting for about less than an hour and the water temp at 1/4 way to hot. Below is a short video from the front driver side wheel well and you can clearly hear it even when standing next to the front doors. For reference, cam phasers are done at 36,000 km about 2 years ago. Now it has 52,000 km. Any advice would be really appreciated, before we bring it into service in a week! Thanks y'all!

EDIT: Sorry, had trouble attaching video file.
Retried using link, pls tell me if it doean't work.

New video by Minh An

photos.app.goo.gl

My 18 did this with the original phasers, NO startup rattle. If you have a warranty, get it done. If not, run it until its a problem. You might go 100k mi before it becomes an issue.

 

[20Expy]

My 18 did this with the original phasers, NO startup rattle. If you have a warranty, get it done. If not, run it until its a problem. You might go 100k mi before it becomes an issue.

Our powertrain warranty ends in less than a year, but phasers were done about 2 years ago and the rebuild program supposedly covers 100% of the work up until 100,000 km. It only occasionally (quite rare actually) taps at idle and doesn't bother me much. My question is should I leave it till later until it gets worse and consisently taps and maybe rattles upon start up (if it even does that anymore)? Or, should we get it in as soon as possible while it's still under base powertrain warranty, so if something were to go wrong during the teardown, the warranty hopefully helps with the case? Lastly, does the revised phasers completely eliminate these issues, anyone with new phasers still tapping/rattling after sometime? Love our Expy and hope to own it for 10+ years, but tearing down the engine twice in 4 years of ownership is really not ideal. Thanks again for your reply!

 

[SyndicateZ]

Id definitely bring it in and have them listen to it and see what they say. Especially while under original warranty