Hey guys, jus got my 5.5 gen a couple weeks ago and its been great, I love it. But when I first start the car theres an odd sound like something scraping and causing friction. The oil level is good, I let it set overnight and then checked it out. Is this just something the car does, or is there a problem?

 

does the sound happen right after the car starts up, and then goes away?

If so...it's the starter "release bearing" or soemthing like that. You can either:
1. ignore it...won't hurt anything (mine used to do that alot in the winter, but it went away.)
2. get a new starter
3. look in the FAQ's or How-to's for the writeup on how to re-grease the starter gear, which loses grease and doesn't "withdraw" quickly enough after startup.

I think that's your problem.

 

it could be the infamous vtc cold start rattle for the vq35..

 

Waht is the vtc cold start rattle? Is it something I should worry about or its no big deal?

 

Is it a fairly loud clanking/rattling that occurs for about a second right after the car starts and the engine revs up? If so, it is definitely the infamous "cold start rattle".

My understanding is that this doesn't really damage anything, it is just annoying. Fixing it involves tearing apart half your engine. Mine does it about 1 out of every 5 times I start my car and I have decided just to live with it.

 

I agree. It's not worth having the engine pulled apart to fix something that won't hurt the engine. The cure may lead to more issues than the original problem. Interestingly, the rattle on my car is getting less frequent. I used to get a rattle in about 1 in 10 cold starts, now its about 1 in 20.

 

It does it on pretty much every cold start....Idk if that means anything more...hopefully not lol

 

I use to get it all the time in the winter with my 02, but for some reason my 03 6 speed only did it twice this past winter. I agree with just living with it cause I don't want nissan tearing into my engine to fix something that only occurs 2-5% of the time.