My missus has been driving the zed around for the last week, and she mentioned on monday that the oil pressure guage is down near the zero most of the time.

 

I checked the oil and saw it was a little low, so filled it back to 3/4 full..

started the car and everything sounded nice.. the guage was reading somewhere between the 5 and 9 (jap car).

 

Thought ok... just low oil

 

however, she said again yesterday the car was back down at about 1 or 2 when she was driving and sometimes stopped at zero when she was stationary.

 

I checked the oil again last night and all looked fine... still about 3/4 on the ol' stick..

 

So I took the car into work myself the morning and she is right.

When I first start the car in the morning, the guage springs nicely up to the 5-9 "norm", but no more than half a mile later, its almost reading zero.

 

confused, when I got to work, I checked for blue smoke etc from the rear and got nothing (pale white smoke only..) and also checked in the bay for any obvious oil leaks etc and still nothing.

 

Took off the oil cap and looked for "mayonaising" and also checked the oil level. Both appeared fine...

 

This is where my "techincal knowledge" runs out, so I phoned a mate at a garage to see if he could take a look - no answer so I decided to take the journey anyways...

 

So I get about a mile into the journey and notice the engine check like flickering on every now and again. I Pull over and stop the car.. wait a while and restarted it.. the light was off.. I continued and not more than 2 more miles into the journey the light's flicking on and off again.

So I pull off the parkway and decide to take the rest of the journey at sub 40mph. As I do so, I come to a stop at a roundabout and can hear a ticking noise from the engine bay.

After opening the window to hear clearer, I realise I am now getting a loud(ish) sharp mentallic tapping noise comming from the engine bay.

 

Some (possibly stupid) tests later, I found the noise is always present, but loudest when the car is at a constant 2500rpm and fades out as the rpm approaches 3500, being almost inaudible at 4000...

Also, when accelerating quickly the sound is quite quiet, as appose to slowing accelerating, where it is scarily loud.

 

So, anyone want to guess at what I've broken?

(and how much it should cost to fix - approximately?)

((AND what may have caused it?))

 

Being completely honest, I tend to drive the car quickly - lots of acceleration etc, but only after its warmed up and never redline it.

 

I'm a little upset because up till now, I've really been enjoying the Zed and its quirks... and I cant bear to see it injured :confused:

I tend to hear that phrase alot when i go to ryan. Dam zed. Fingers crossed when it goes back in for another head gasket all will be well