I rather unwisely gave the mig a good thrashing on the A1 on the way home from watford last night - it is a ten year old car with 126k miles on it, after all - should really be a bit more careful with the old girl, rather than racing her against kids in saxos.

About two miles from home the oil light came on, and I got a loud tappety noise from the engine.

Checking it this morning, the tappety noise is still there - so loud you'd have to shout to make yourself heard with the bonnet open. Oil level is good, but the oil is as black as tar and I haven't changed it or the filter for ages (i.e. 2 years + ).  . No leakages from underneath, or from around the camcover gaskets.

I'm guessing that I've got a blockage in the oilways feeding the tappets / lifters - don't know the correct term - and a couple of oil and filter changes should do the trick. Perhaps some Wynns Lifter treatment too?

Any other suggestions? I did the aux belt / cambelt / breathers / water pump / camcover gaskets etc about 2 months / 500 miles ago, and I've got no error codes. The car has been sat outside the house with very little movement - maybe 200 or so miles in the last four weeks - because I've been quite ill.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

jjleonard wrote on 23. Jul 2011 at 12:35:

Can't believe you'd go to that expence and not spend another £13 and 20 minutes to change the oil and filter. As said above, whip the sump off and check the oil pick up.

Thanks all. I'm a bit shamefaced that I didn't change the oil, it was on my todo list.

I'll check the sump and do a quick oil change and filter - if I'm lucky then I might get away with it but I'm not that certain.

If not, then expect to see some parts for sale