I had my water pump replaced and also asked my mechanic to change the oil. After he was done, he mentioned that he heard some knocking from the head area. When he brought the car over last night, it was hardly noticeable, so I shrugged it off. This morning I did notice that it was quite loud, a metallic "knock knock" from the passenger side, left bank area.

Two things are different than when the car was taken in:

1. I gave him 10w30 mobil 1 synthetic as opposed to 5w30 (car has 225,000miles)

2. He used a Hastings LF-240 filter in it. I found a cross reference to FRAM ph7317...which seems the right filter for my '95.

I'm stumped...any ideas?

 

Could be the water pump installed incorrectly...how long does the knock last for after you start it ?? seconds, minutes, hours ??
if he used a Fram filter, they supposidly dont have an anti-drain back valve so your engine will be starting and possibly knocking for a few seconds...hastings is a good filter on the other hand though
-matt

 

I heard Hastings are good, so not sure there. It's not in the water pump area...so that rules it out. Could be the chain tensioner hasn't primed properly after it was replaced (had to be removed to allow slack for water pump removal). The manual states that the car should be revved to 3k for a few minutes to bleed air out of the oil passages. Dunno...but if it doesn't subside in a few days, I'm biting the bullet and doing an oil/filter change. I'm thinking Amsoil 5w30 and Nissan genuine filter.

Although my car is old, no way it should sound like GM OHV

 

Is the knocking always the same level or does it die then come back?

Also, I hope he didn't add any oil treatment because that will cause your oil pump knock like a bastard.

Personally, I recommend sticking with 5w30 all yer around.

 

No..he doesn't believe in that oil treatment crap.
I went out and listened to it again...actually sounds like it's coming from the timing cover area, which leads me to believe the tensioner doesn't seem to be doing it's job. The noise does subside, after running awhile, but it's there. Double damn.

I tend to agree with you on that 5w30 idea.

 

try putting 5x30 in it and see if it makes a differ. maybe you got a bad oil filter.

timing chain tensioner is a 65$ part
dealer charged me 250 and 2 free oil chainges

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....t=timing+chain

www.newnissanparts.com

http://www.rpmrons.com/nissantiming.html

 

I replaced my tensioner myself about 18months ago to get rid of the rattling at startup, which it did. It was a pain in the butt to use the access panel, especially putting in the new one. I'd hate to think I have to change it again

 

I saw that your car has 225K on it, and that you used synthetic oil. Did you just switch to synthetic, or have you been using it for a while?

I've always been told that you shouldn't switch to synthetic on cars that have lots of miles on regular oil, since many people have problems with leaks and stuff. I have no idea if it might cause something like you are getting, but it is a thought.

 

I heard that too, but never believed it. I bought my car with 45,000 miles in '97 and have been using 5w30 synthetic since. This is my first switch to 10w30, but I can't see the viscosity causing this. Maybe the tensioner is not seated properly it needs to be reinstalled. The manual says the car should be revved to 3000rpm under no load after it is replaced..not sure if this is was done or if it is even an issue

 

Oh, I thouht that you might have just now switched at 225K. I don't think that the synthetic or the viscosity should cause what you are getting. Also, I sure hope my car lives that long.

 

i just switched to mobil 1 10W30 as well and used a mobil oil filter, and right after the change, my car is making the same noise and seems to be coming from the same area after the oil change as the above stories....what is this...can't be timing pretensioner cause it wasn't doing it and right after oil change from vavoline maxlife to mobil 1, car is making the noise described above, don't know why...hopefully, it will go away over some miles...have basically none on this oil so far!

 

i have 125K miles by the way

 

My car does the exact same thing no the exact same oil. Lasts about 2 seconds after I start the car when it's cold. It didn't do it before the change, but the weather wasn't as cold either. I'm blamign the sub-zero temps since the only thing I changed was the oil. 10W30 should be good up to -20F, so I'm not too worried for the moment.

 

It didn't do that before the oil change? What viscosity oil are you using now? That 2 second timing chain rattle got worse for me, then I changed the tensioner and it was fixed. Weird stuff....maybe it is the viscosity.

 

Like I said, it wasn't doing it before but it was mostly warm weather. I put in some 10w30 just before the winter and it's doing it everytime I start the car when it's cold. If I stop it and crank it back up, it doesn't produce the sound since the engine is still warm. I get the feeling it's the oil that's actually not lubricating the engine until a few seconds after it's started, then the sound stops.

Anyhow, I'm not too worried about it. Should I be?

 

I won't be too worried. I think it's the tensioner getting weak and the 10w30 is exaggerating it.
What bugs me is that the noise on mine doesn't totally go away, it's still pronounced after the car is warm.
I noticed also that the mobil1 10w30 super synthetic says it's for high mileage cars...wonder if my car has problems pumping it?

 

Yeah I was going to use 5w30, but when I got to Canadian Tire it said on the bottle that 10w30 was for high mileage, so I went with that. I probably should've taken the 5 since t's now winter here. Oh well, I don't think it'll make that much of a difference.

 

Funny...I did the same thing at Canadian tire, except there was no 5w30. That made my choice easier . I'll drive the car like this for awhile and see what happens. My mechanic thinks that the tensioner is weak, we'll see.

 

my mileage seems to have majorly dropped since i put in mobil 1 10W30 synthetic....from a before valvoline 10W30, although, I have driven like 50 miles since the change....so i can't tell yet