St0n3y said:
Bought a bargain Xsara VTS today
Reg: R "98"
Owners: 2 (both Lady)
Mileage 58,000
SH: Full
Paid: £850
My only problem with the car is the slight tapping from the engine, I've been told by a mate that its a sticky hydraulic lifter, any one know how easy these are to fix??
I was a bit worried at first but i've drove the car 200 miles and it drives great, just sounds like a Mk2 Fiesta on tickover and round town
ouch nice price but i dont think youll want to like what i have to say
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The xu10j4rs lump as used in the xsara vts/306 gti6 is v prone to snapping cambelts (well tensioner failure tbh) this requires 30-40k changes of belt + tensioner to be on the safe side, pug say it does not need a change for 60k but too many people have had problems before that.
There are a lot of engines that have had the belt snap then been badly repaired.Aparently the head is quite hard to get "just right" and will tap and rattle like an old ladies false teeth on a january morning unless done right, also when the belt fails it often significantly weakens the bottom end and is likely to fail soon after unless your v lucky :/
i am not saying this is the case but it has happened MANY times on the 306gti6 forums, if the noise goes away with revs or when the engine is warm i would say yeah maybe something simple
the gti6 engine is nice for power but a dog for problems, why a lot of people still prefer to go mi16 route with conversions mainly because this cambelt tensioner is such a big menace with them, also the reason i am not getting one for my 306 and am going 2l 8v turbo route
i do hope this is not the case with your engine as you seem to of got a bargin. And i also suppose if you are prepared to do the work yourself it should not be to bad. Might be worth checking through the service history to see if the belt has snapped, could have even slipped a tooth as this is quite common on these too :/
so long as the problem doesnt cost you like £1000 to fix!
