V6 cams

[dowen]

Hi, I need some help! Ive Had a problem for some time with a tappet noise, C5 V6. So Ive stripped it, removed the two rear cams and examined the tappets, and for the life of me I cant find anything, I was hoping to find a burnt or nasty one! Oil seems to be getting to everything OK. Also I am puzzled by the tappets! Every other hydraulic tappet I have come across has a center part that moves freely, these all seem to be solid!
Now I must be missing something on this one! I pegged the crankshaft, and obviously didn't need to peg camshafts as two were coming out.
So how come when I took the sprockets off the peg hole in the head and the hole in the sprocket are not in line? about 20 deg! What am I missing?

If I peg all four cams with the crankshaft pegged will it be correct?

Help appreciated Dave.

[CitroJim]

Never had a cam out of a V6 Dave so I can't comment directly on the tappets but are you sure you're not confusing it with injector tick? In both mine, the injectors are loud at idle and also, 24 valves doing their thing are not going to be entirely silent. My old V6 gets a tappetety noise occasionally, again from the rear bank, but I put that down to the huge mileage it's done. Normally it is there on startup and quickly disappears with a quick rev.

The sprockets are verniers and intended to have an adjustment range by loosening the four 10mm bolts. This allows the sprocket proper to rotate about the hub, which is the bit that's pinned.

Have a look at this PDF. It is the procedure for cambelt replacement on the ES9J4S, the one with variable valve timing, which I assume your C5 has... It explains how to set up the sprockets and time the engine.

If you have the ES9J4 with fixed timing, let me know and I'll post the guide for that one.

[dowen]

Hi Jim,Well I removed all tappets and I found one really scored! The car has only done 64 K and everything seems in really unworn condition.Its not an injector click, and it doesn't start till the engine is good and hot, anyway I bought one tappet, 20 quid! I'm hoping it will cure it. So I'm going to start putting it back together .It s got the concentric cam adjuster and I have diagrams etc. it looks more or less straightforward and I'm confident with setting timing etc. But having said that, it brings me to the bit that's puzzling me Why,having pegged the crankshaft, didn't the two rear camshaft mate up to the holes in the head I don't mean the slots in the pinions I mean the slot in the camshaft that I expected to be in line with the hole in the head! its about 20 deg out! Am I missing something? have I got a hole in my head? There's no question of timing being out.

If I now peg all 4 cams, I haven't moved crank! they will be in a different position in relation to before I started to dismantle. What am I missing

Regards Dave.