5th Feb 2018, 14:31
Hi there.
I have a TF160VVC here in South Africa where there is very little experience of this engine. There is a bad knocking coming from the VVC control unit, and after stripping it, have found that the piston is pushed out and is hitting the casing, causing the knocking noise. It doesn't get quiet when the engine warms up or when the engine revs up. If I however swap the two solenoid plugs on the VVC control system causing the piston to push out, the noise goes away. The idle now becomes rough and the management system compensates by raising the idle speed to 1400 RPM. This does confirm that the noise is coming from the piston hitting the casing. Do you have any suggestions?
Thank You
Dominic
21st May 2012, 13:52
Hey hi, there you sound like an expert on VVC. You say the noise comes from the VVC mechs; you know, the noise that makes it sound like a 1950's Perkins diesel on warm tick over!! Do you mean the VVC cams themselves, or the actual timing altering mechanism? My noise is the rhythmic fairly heavy cammy sound like you used to get on the old mk 3 Ford Cortinas in the early seventies!!
And hey, I agree with you, my little MGF 1.8 VVC is great fun. It's a bit demanding maintenance wise, but generally it's a good car.