My trusty old Catalunya made a clicking (tappet like) noise on cold startup from about 40,000 miles. That was after it had a front end rebuild when my then boyfriend shunted a transit van...The local Scooby garage said it was piston slap (never sounded like that to me), not related to the repair and wouldn't letme down.
It went on fine until 115,000 miles always going away on warm up. One morning it was reluctant to start, then ran on three with a much louder clicking.
Its now in bits and the specialist says they found a shim from the cam follower had ended up on the cylinder, jammed a valve on the way. It needs that piston replacing, two valves and one cam at least...
They said they never saw anything like this and can't understand how the shim could have made its way to where it was!
Assuming I get this rebuilt, has anyone got any idea how this happened, is it as rare as they say? might it happen again?
Is it really worth spending well over a grand on my 115,000 mile engine (the rest of my P reg Catalunya is in really nice condition and I always loved this car!).

 

It has been known to happen, but normally on cars that have either had a cambelt problem (stretched/snapped/tensioner failure) or been over reved.

With regards to your engine it maybe much cheaper to source a good used engine and have a transplant done. Have you tried speaking to Scoobyclinic over near Chesterfield? They may be cheaper and even have an engine avaialble.

 

I guessed that if there is too much wrong with the engine it'd be best to get a used one. I already priced one from a place in Hayfield that breaks only subarus...(1100 for a 50,000 miler)
I know my engine has had an easy life ("careful lady owner"!) and not been chipped etc so if its not too much cost I'll probably go for the repair.