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MG MGA - Engine 'chirping'

Hi all, just got back from Twist's Summer Party Revival. Good show, as always. Unfortunately, I missed the grand lake tour due to a failing gearbox and another problem which has been developing during this driving season. I've been noticing ever since the spring that the tappets have grown louder at idle and the enigne has begun chirping at high rpm. It's a sound reminiscent of a volkswagen motor. The chirping is mostly noticeable on acceleration, although there is a small range of contant rpm where it can be heard, and I'm not confusing the sound with pinking because I've tried retarding the timing and it still won't go away. Has anyone experienced this, and if so, what causes it and how do I make it go away? Re-adjusting the tappets has not solved the problem. I adjusted them to .015 cold per the manual, however John Twist says he always adjusts to .015 hot. I haven't had a chance to try this yet, do you think that will make a difference? Could I not be getting sufficient oil delivery to the tappets?

Mark
Mark J Michalak

Hi Mark. Are you quite sure the chirping is from the valve cover area? My clutch release bearing wore out numerous years ago, and "chirped" on an occasional basis. Eventually the chirping became constant, so I pulled the engine. I found that the carbon block on the release bearing was worn down to the nub, and that the cast iron part of the release bearing had actually been hitting the back of the rotating pressure plate, which caused the chirping. Cheers! GLenn
Glenn

In 1969 I fixed a chirping MGTD for a very upset customer at a service station I was at one night. The guy at the station had NO idea what an MGTD was, much less what the noise was. I'd heard my MGA make the same noise. I just pulled the dipstick, got a tiny amount of oil on my finger and applied it to the distributor cam. No more chirp. Very happy cross country TD driver 1000 miles from home. Try it, you might like it.
Chuck Asbury

I think this problem is only with people with coupes. Yours is a coupe isn't it?. Maybe time to buy a rodster!!!.
JEFF BECKER

You would expect a B-Series engine to buzz, not chirp!!
Steve Gyles

Glenn, I can't be certain that it's coming from the valve cover because it only chirps on acceleration under load. It was my assumption that the noise was the tappets because the tappets on a Volkswagen cause a similar noise. I just put in an Ignitor, so I can rule out point chirp and dizzy cam noise.

In an attempt to rule out the fan belt, I applied some belt dressing. Within a couple minutes of the application, one of my pulleys started making noise (although not the chirping noise in question). Which makes me think either a pulley or metal fan is making the noise. I removed the belt and started the engine and no more noise, so it's probably the water pump pulley or alternator, I can't really tell by spinning them by hand. I made the belt looser than it had been which alleviated most of the pulley noise at idle, but the chirp is still there at speed.

After reading through the archives I found that there are about a dozen things that can cause a "chirp", so this may take me a while to sort out. And Jeff, instead of buying a roadster I have solved the problem so far by turning up the stereo. Although I do like your idea, I don't think I could part with my top.

Thanks,
Mark
Mark

May be loose bolts holding fan to w/p or cracked fan or cracked generator pulley. I split two generator pulleys on my first A back in 1975 before I learned that the belt needs to be a bit looser than I thought.
Randy
R J Brown

I had a chirping coming from the dizzy as well. But it chirped at all RPMs. Lubing the dizzy solved the problem.
Steve Simmons

To confuse you a little more, could it be body panels rubbing together?
Tom

Hi Mark. People have found all kinds of weird items inside their MGA's! You did check the trunk for bird's nests eh? lol GLenn
Glenn

Mark

A long shot. Check your motor mounts to see if the engine might be twisting a bit under load and causing the fan to touch something.

Larry
58A
Larry Hallanger

Take a look at the dynamo body face behind the fan (small fan behind dynamo pully, not radiator fan!!).
If you see scoring on the body, or on the fan blades, I would suggest this is the problem.
I had this for quite some time before the front dynamo bearing gave out in a big way. The new dynamo does not chirp!!.

Neil
Neil Purves

Mark,
I had a B that chirped- turned out to be a chracked head. The crack went into an intake valve seat and the small, high velocity gas stream sounded like a chirpy squeak. Slowly got worse, then engine started to exhibit classic symptoms- fizz in radiator, etc.

I hope this isn't what you have. If the noise starts moveing down rpm, that's a sign it's getting worse.

Good luck,
Bill
Bill Eastman

This thread was discussed between 21/08/2005 and 26/08/2005

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