Start up noise?

[Sincoln]

I'm kinda stumped atm on this one. Searching online, shows everyone from Ford truck guys to other modern V8 Ford engines having the issue or saying they have an issue and it sounds similar with how they describe it.

On mine, if it sits awhile (like overnight) upon starting, it makes a racket for about a second. Like either the timing chain hydraulic tensioner is collapsed and is allowing slack for a brief moment before priming up, or possibly something is amiss with the oil filter (dunno if these run an anti drainback valve or not?).

After running, and any subsequent start ups within a reasonable amount of time, it sounds like a normal engine at start up. It idles fine, revs in neutral fine, etc.. But upon sitting and starting, it'll make a racket.

 

[FlaOkie]

I’ll start by saying that my ’02 sits for long periods of time.
It doesn’t make any unusual noise when started after sitting.

These engines have a long timing chain, with two hydraulic tensioners, one on each side.
I would think some noise may be a normal characteristic of the design.
Since it goes away so quickly this may very well be the case.

That said - a couple of things that come to mind:---
Excessive noise may/could be the result of a delay in the tensioners reacting to tighten the chain as quickly as required.
An oil filter without an anti-drainback valve, or a filter with a bad or stuck open anti-drainback valve.
Too thick oil creating too high a pressure drop preventing the tensioners from reacting quickly to reduce chain slack.

 

[Svets96]

Yes and Yes both of you are correct. Mine does the same thing. It did it the other day when I took the car for a spin. Oil drips off of the chains and hydros, when you start it after 2 days it makes a slack/rattle sound.

Just make sure you use Motorcraft or Wix, Purolator whichever has an anti drain back valve for an oil filter.

Your engine is fine, no need to worry about anything. Its a common theme with the InTech's. Along with any other over head cam engine. Especially the Triton 5.4L 3 Valve in the Ford trucks and other vehicles they had placed this engine in.

You should look at some BMW vids on Youtube about the VANOS problems. The gears need to be rebuilt after awhile.

 

[Sincoln]

I'll swap out the filter just to be sure. Think I went with Fram, and it might have forgone the anti-drain back. Fairly certain I'm running Valvoline 5w 30 full synthetic.

Yeah, surprised to see it's an issue with some of the engines including what trucks get, etc.. Some posts were claiming it was a noise they had from day-one-off-the-lot brand new. My Mark VIII which was the most experience I've had with this period of Ford/Lincoln, went from 62k to 128k w/o any noise whatsoever. It was run hard, saw heavy towing, tons of longer distance trips, etc. etc. and other than oil filter relocator gasket puking like clockwork around the 100k mile mark, never had engine issue.

Do we have double-roller timing chains? Or did they pull a BMW and switch to a single-roller chain?

@Svet96 Yeah, I had bought a '98 540i w/o the Vanos and was going to have that done, but started finding little things here and there that suggested some things were getting hidden by a PO and didn't want to mess with it's timing chain, that had definitely stretched.

 

[Svets96]

I'll swap out the filter just to be sure. Think I went with Fram, and it might have forgone the anti-drain back. Fairly certain I'm running Valvoline 5w 30 full synthetic.

Yeah, surprised to see it's an issue with some of the engines including what trucks get, etc.. Some posts were claiming it was a noise they had from day-one-off-the-lot brand new. My Mark VIII which was the most experience I've had with this period of Ford/Lincoln, went from 62k to 128k w/o any noise whatsoever. It was run hard, saw heavy towing, tons of longer distance trips, etc. etc. and other than oil filter relocator gasket puking like clockwork around the 100k mile mark, never had engine issue.

Do we have double-roller timing chains? Or did they pull a BMW and switch to a single-roller chain?

@Svet96 Yeah, I had bought a '98 540i w/o the Vanos and was going to have that done, but started finding little things here and there that suggested some things were getting hidden by a PO and didn't want to mess with it's timing chain, that had definitely stretched.

Fram filters you have to watch at times, their quality has gone up over the years, they do use a cardboard type of filter media. Just have to watch.

Our timing chains are 2 double roller type on each head. Both intake and exhaust cams are driven/connected by a chain. Here is a pic:

 

[jcgriff2]

I've had a similar noise on my 1999 Continental for the last 5 years or so (101,000 miles). I hear it only upon cold start-up in the morning and while driving for the first few minutes -- then all is quiet for the rest of the day.

I stopped trying to figure out the cause several years ago as it seems to affect nothing - and nothing is affected.

 

[Firebrian]

I must be lucky. I've had 3 continentals (1997 w/232K, 2002 w/82K, and now 2001 w/40K miles) and never have I experienced the start up rattles, even when I was doing Quick Lube Co. oil changes on my 1997 for $19 (ie cheap filters).

I currently use the synthetic media Fram Ultra Guard XG2's - change them annually at every other oil change...rated for 15K-20K miles....I don't go past 10K on a filter. Probably the best filter out there for the buck...Bitog approved. You can buy them for $6-$7K each in a 6 pack. I've used the regular Puro's, Puro Pure 1's, and Motorcraft before this. The XG2 is what I'm sticking with for the near future.

 

[FlaOkie]

Whether a used car has 40K miles on the clock, or 140K miles, what you see and hear depends on the driving habits and pride of ownership and maintenance it has received over the years.

If that 40K mile car was driven hard and never had an oil change, it may tend to develop/make more unusual sounds than the 140K mile car that was driven less harshly and was given regular maintenance.
As hard as it may be to believe, there are many that never even think about oil changes and preventative maintenance.
They just buy a car – drive it until they trade it in, or drive it until it stops running.

 

[Sincoln]

It's also possible company "A" might have outsourced parts during heavy demands to company "F", but otherwise company "A" did most/some of the parts, so some cars were affected, others were not.

IF it's indeed an engine issue, it's probably the tensioners bleeding down, which could be a factory defect. Hell, look at the airbag recall for Honda and how many those went into, and it took after accident investigations to find them being faulty I believe. Tensioners in PITA FWD cars (to get at them) and a ton of trucks, etc. would be an expensive nightmare to recall.

FWIW, just to showcase how hard some "odd" sounds are to track; on my Saab 9-3 I had previously, it had a '99 T5 engine (2.0L turbo) and those things are fairly bullet-proof and run forever w/o serious mechanical issues. I had bypassed the PCV valve and installed a breather element directly on the valve cover after a larger turbo upgrade as the new turbo inlet pipe still needed a provision for the breather tube. While driving at various times, it would sometimes make an upper engine clanking noise (similar to our 4.6L DOHC start up but only while driving). At the time, thought the chain was stretched or possibly a guide broke. Finally added a nipple to the inlet to get the breather system working correctly, and that sound completely went away and never returned.

My best guess was having the breather vent the valve cover to atmosphere was either interfering with the EGR system somehow or it was messing up the way something internally operated that needed that PCV system working as it was meant to.

With the Saab, it was a very rare occurrence that even the vet owners new nothing about.

 

[FlaOkie]

Yep-- parts sourcing and quality control (or lack thereof) enters into the equation too.
But that usually shows up in a more defined time frame, and/or certain model/years, when not caught during the production runs.

Problems caused by a lack of maintenance, by owners that treat their cars like disposable appliances, surfaces as a more random issue.