do these car have a reputation for a value tapping noise

Asked by Tom Apr 11, 2013 at 09:02 PM about the 2001 Buick Century

Question type: Shopping & Pricing

Guys selling this car says it has a valve tap and say this is common in this car He is asking 3500.00 and is very clean but the tap makes me nervous what do you think would you buy this car with the tap ?
thanks
searay160

18 Answers

value tapping?? 'bout ready to bust a gut laughing...you're not telling us how many miles you got on this buggy? You cannot tell where it's had it's oil changes on time unless there is a glovebox full of receipts. even so, the thing ticks? valve sounds, or down low at half-speed like a main crank looseness? had vehicles myself that had a bit of upper end noise. the ford 1.9 liters used on Escorts always sounded a bit "valvey", but still managed okay, could try to silence the ticking with "motor honey" if you felt this was necessary~

1 people found this helpful.

Nope, it has hydraulic valve tappets (lifters) and sure, they can make a tapping, ticking sound, from too heavy oil or very high mileage but a "reputation", no. "Common", no But searay before you buy it spend a few bucks to have it checked by a good mechanic, and get his evaluation in writing, for what good it will do, the car is 14 years old and you don't know how well it was maintained, how many miles are on the car?

3 people found this helpful.

Hi H25 yeah, that's why I made the crack about the glovebox full because we don't know how many miles? why's it tappin? this can't be good.~

suppose "motor honey" is akin to "the Black Tape solution" in that there's definitely a problem, but not today. say....crazy excellent Jazz on the dish network unused sports channels~ better than the sirius and better than Windows Media player selections...always hate when these unused sports channels start using them for sports and take the boss jazz off.....doooh~

again it's a matter of disclosure, how can we take a guess when there is half a million miles on this vehicle? please do tell, we are waiting...

http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-t2017_ds544085....... that one got 3X bigger

2 people found this helpful.
50

I have a '04 century 145,000 miles. Sounds like a tapping noise till it warms up t hen it goes away what is a possible problem

5 people found this helpful.
10

I had a 2004 Century with 70k miles and the valves chattered. It didn’t burn oil and I drove it for two years and 20k miles. I paid 3400 for it in 2014. I gave it away to a niece and she drove it without problems for over a year. It’s still on the road somewhere in New England.

1 people found this helpful.

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