Xantia Noisy Camshaft

[handyman]

I have just recently had the head rebuilt on my 2.0 8V Xantia and have noticed that the camshaft/followers are noisy when the engine is cold and under load. Increasing the engine speed above 3k and the noise disappears. The engine currently runs on 10W40 semi-synthetic but I will be changing the oil shortly to fully synthetic.
The engine has done about 133K and the bores showed no sign of wear when the head was lifted to replace some damaged valves.
Have I got a worn oil pump?
I am reluctant to return to the cowboys who undertook the work originally as they spent an in-ordinate amount of time to repair the car, and their "specialist" Citroen mechanic was incapable of refitting all the ancillary parts correctly, with many items fitted badly.
Anybody recommend a good independent Citroen garage in East Sussex?

[Peter.N.]

I dont know this engine, being a diesel man, but if it has hydraulic tappets it could be low oil pressure to the tappets, increasing with speed, it could be to do with the way the head has been fitted, where the oil flows from the block to the head.

[Mandrake]

The 2.0 8 valve (petrol) doesn't have hydraulic tappets, it uses shims.
The 8 valve engine seems to have noiser than average (compared to other cars I've owned) tappets, but if they are noisier than they previously were on the same car then there may indeed be a problem...
Regards,
Simon

[jeremy]

Sounds as though the valves weren't shimmed properly! - take the cover off and measure the clearances with a feeler gauge and see if this is the problem. I'm sure you will find instructions for shimming on here somewhere - it will be the same for petrol and diesel but the cearances may be different.
You mention valve damage. Was this due to impact between valve and pistons due to a broken belt? I don't know if this produces camshaft/camshaft bearing damage on these engines - no doubt someone can tell me.
Jeremy