knocking/clacking on cold start is back! changed oil 1500 miles ago castrol syntec 0w30 w/ OEM filter. ran super smooth and quiet for about a month, but now after letting the car sit overnight I get a strong knocking/clacking upon cold start. it lasts about 30 seconds and then calms down. it is worse when the car is parked on a decline (e.g. tilting backward). is this the dreded TC tensioner?? or something worse??

[if anyone knows how to convert the linked video file into a small audio mp3, please do so, and teach me how. thx]

Click here to watch VQ30-Start-up-knock

I dont hear it

Was your fan on? It was hard to hear any ONE sound in that clip.

Lot of background noise. Ive have listend to knocks before on clips, and I dont hear anything in that clip. Im not saying its not there, just in that clip, its hard to hear anything

c'mon I'm not crazy. the sound is a bit muffled compared to live, but I can hear it. of course I know what i'm listening for. anyone else hear it?

i'm wearing a good set of head phones. the noise might not be apparent over PC speakers?

same problem with me....stops when i get it to DRIVE..its louder on PARK... i'm takin it to mechanic this friday..

no, fan was not on. yes lots of noises, but you can hear the knocking if you know what to listen for I guess.

I know what i listen for. My motor used to make the SAME sound. I dont hear it all.

-matt

hmm. I do trust you know your stuff as you are one of the more knowlegeable people on here. I might need a better sound byte. right now my ear is tuned into this noise as i have been trying to isolate it for a few days now. on the clip, the noise is most apparent around 0:12sec when I focus in on the dipstick.

yeah you need to use good head phones to hear it. i just plugged in some old PC speakers and it is far more muffled and difficult to discern.

I can hear it with my PC speakers, and they're "stock". Like SkyJumper said, it is easier to hear at the 12 second mark, when the camera turns toward the dipstick. Sounds like a very rapid clicking, but not quite a metallic clanking. I've had this same noise before when I ran different oil filters (I won't mention the Fram's I ran in '01 or so). Maybe that is why I could key in on the noise.

I started a thread about this yesterday for Sky Jumper not knowing he was a member here, so the mods can delete my thread since it is basically a double.
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....22#post5165522

Dave

I did hear the sound, and it sounded like the same sound I got when I first started the engine after having changed the water pump.

Changing the tensioner unit is not that bad, as long as you are only taking out the piston assembly and not the guide. I think the smart idea I read was from someone who ordered the new style and removed the spring/piston and threw it in the old one, then reassembled.

here's a better sound clip. I put the camera underneath the car. the sound is very apparent at start up, and begins to fade at 0:43sec on the video.

Matt - can you hear it now? is this the TC sound you had? thanks.

Click here to watch VQ30-Start-up-knock2