Sorry for the late reply Shambles.. I have flu.. that guy is so knowledgeable and gave a full insight of the problems surrounding the Theta engine..
I also found info regarding the ticking on cold start with the gamma engines.. [louder in winter ] it was a strip down on the 1.6 Gdi engine and was due to low oil pressure when hot.. strip down showed that the oil pressure relief valve was stuck partly open and there was swarf present.. hence the low oil pressure.. so I thought to my self if the relief valve is stuck this must also account for low oil pressure at cold start and the oil pump not delivering adequate oil to the top end and camshafts in general [ pressure leak ].. I have seen many posts over the years about this top end ticking on the gamma engines and I think this could well be the problem here.. good thing though is when the strip down was done the engine was good in other respects..
