Or atleast that what I think it is. Didnt start untill after I changed the oil, using 3/4 5w/30 and 1/4 MMO. I used some cheapass oil filter that came with the car.

It makes a nasty banging/knocking sound for the first few minutes after starting it. It is always gone within 10 minutes at the most, then I just have the noisy lifters to entertain me. 132k miles.

Would putting on a better oil filter and maybe a different type of oil in help? Would I be justifyed in raising hell with the guy I bought it from two weeks ago if the new filter dosnt help?

Is piston slap terminal, or just annoying? If anybody has a wav or mp3 of piston slap to help me diagnose it that would be great.

 

Its just your lifters pumping up. You should use a better filter with a good anti-drainback valve. The better oil filters will have a big rubber flange thats inside the outter ring of holes of the filter. Its easily viewed on the outside of the filter. Don't bother with the MMO, just use good 5W30.

 

Thanks alot. I was sort of doubting piston slap. If I turn it off for even a few minutes, not long enough to cool down, the knock is back. I was going to take off the valve cover and check out the lifters and assiciated gadgetry soon anyways.

 

But you should still replace that filter. the lifters will wear on dry startups.

 

I'll stop by Autozone tomorrow and do it after schoo.l

Is it normal for a noisy lifter to be near silent at idle and get louder under load and higher RPM? Or does that sound like something else? Possibly an exhaust leak somewhere?

 

It is most likely an exhausxt leak.

These engines aren't scoobies, and they do not have forged pistons, I have never heard of anyone having piston slap before

 

Yeah, I always thought forged pistons were more susceptible since they are a tad smaller because of the greater heat expansion.


Bah, who thought owning a car could be so much work. Where should I look for the leak? It would be between the manifold and the head since it sounds like it's just one cylinder, right? Damn FWD, makes everything harder.

 

Can you say..."manifold studs" ?

 

As in, broken or rusted? How big of a problem is that? Removing broken studs from the head dosnt sound fun or cheap to have done.

 

Probably broken, if you are having exhaust noise. The VG is famous (or infamous) for it. There is a good write-up on how to do it on 4dsc.com. Not an easy task, but not impossible. I'll be doing mine in the near future.

 

Does this mena my manifold is going to fall off, or can I procrastinate more?

 

You just need to have it checked to make sure that's what it is. It is doubtful that the manifold will fall off, but it may get worse. You can look at them yourself and see if any are missing, but sometimes they don't fall out when they break. Reach down (cool engine, obviously) and see if you can turn any of them with your hands. If so, that's one indication that they may be broken. Don't get crazy with a wrench, but see if they can be tightened. Sometimes they just work loose.

IF that's your problem, it can get expensive to repair beacuse of the labor involved. There's been lots of costs quoted on here- $200 on up to about $1000, depending on who you know that can do it.

You'll want to have someone you trust do it, since it will more than likely involve drilling out broken studs from the head (4dsc.com). Or, you can do it yourself for about $100 in parts.

 

Thanks for all the help.

I replaced the no-name oil filter with a Fram, and it didnt help the knocking/banging that occurs for the first 5-10 minutes after starting.

 

Same thnig happened to me.. I replaced the oil filter with the toyota filter (part number is on a earlier post) and presto.. noise was gone....