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Thanks Rmachines. I'll try to see my trusted local mechanic tomorrow and see if he can confirm the diagnosis. I'll let you know what he says.

If it's piston slap and it's just going to get worse, and eventually LOUD, then I could be looking at a fair bit of work/cost. Might be best to move it on ...

Forgot to ask, Rmachines: if it is the little ends, is it a big job on the Polo? Is it possible to replace them without removing the engine - ie by taking the head off, dropping the sump and pushing pistons out from below?

If it is possible to do it that way, what are we looking at in the way of ...

Thanks very much for such a thoughtful and detailed reply - its really helpful (but obviously a bit worrying! ).

I'm not going to have any time today to play with the Polo, but I'll give it a good listening-to tomorrow and post a reply.

I agree it would, just wondering how much a cam costs (never done one before).

Gulp! I'd better hope it's the tappets, then!

The noise is a bit worse than the normal 'ticking' of tappets before they pump themselves up - a little bit deeper. I've had a few VWs with the odd ticking tappet, and have lived with it (them). Also, the noise hardly improves once the engine has warmed up.

I didn't know that injectors make a noise ...

Just bought a Mk4 1.4 with 68,000 miles and a full service history (including regulat oil changes). There's a ticking noise coming from the top of the engine. I thought it was the tappets, so I flushed the engine (twice) with flushing oil and renewed the oil and filter (Quantum bog standard oil ...

Thanks guys. I'll swap the thermostat and see if that improves things.

I recently bought a 1997 Polo 1.4 (AEX engine), and the temperature gauge takes forever to even reach 70. But today, after a fast 20-mile run (with gauge eventually showing 70 after the first 10 miles) I left it to idle for a couple of minutes - and the gauge rose to the middle of the scale (around ...