here is the video clip of my start up. notice how it makes a loud rattling/ticking sound whatever you want to call it when i start up cold or if it hasn't been started in a couple of hours. i had people tell me it's my heat shield or timing chain but maybe the video and audio will help you guys depict what the sound is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0bXhBnXpKc

I like to watch video of people's "strange" sounds coming from cars on Youtube (because I have no life) and from what I can tell it doesn't sound like an engine problem like piston slap or rod knock.

Its also really fast which sounds like ticking valves or something of that nature. I've seen some videos where people used too thin of an oil and it causes valve ticking.

I'm no expert when it comes to engines although through watching tons of videos I can kind of guesstimate.

Here is one where a guy had a leak in the headers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYdhh...eature=related

Here is one where a guy used too high weight oil. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln6N_...eature=related

Here is one with a bad rod bearing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3znWQ...eature=related

This kinda sounds like what my Max does on startup as well... interesting...

bump, i have the same noise.
could it be the type of oil used? or timing belt related issue?

Mine has the same noise on cold start up.

valves.
Is your oil low? have you recently installed a different brand oil filter, oil might be draining off causing excessive noise at startup. Pull your front valve cover and look for carbon or browning of the cam journal caps (evidence of overheating). also check your valve clearances.

I think we have solid cams (non-hydraulic) that require shims to adjust. You have excessive clearance or no oil, causing noise. The question is why.

my oil is due to change maybe thats why

i bought a bottle of engine flush to clean any sluges

should i stick to 5w30?

i thought i was the only one with that problem. Some mechanic told me that it was due to the car being cold and the oil is just flowing thru..?? dont kno if he made sense//

i always use synthetic oil 5w 30

i park underground in a heated environment so that rules out the car being cold

starter.

sonds like lifter tick..my vr4 did the same thing and found out the 2nd gen vr4 lifters had this habbit. As soon as my car warmed up the ticking went away. I finally switched to 3rd gen lifters and the ticking went away completely,

oil not lubricating?? sounds like the lifters arent getting oil

It sounds like its coming from inside the engine, not from the heat sheild and in my experience timing chain rattle at start (which my 95 max always did) goes away in 5-10 seconds. Maybe the lifters?

****...i hadnt started my 2k2 max in about 5 days. When i turned it on, i heard the most horrible ticking I had from any car ever! I tht something might have been destroyed since it was sitting for so many days...

Are you guys saying the ticking is normal/ok?? Ive never had ticking in mine at 150k miles......

i get the same ticking noise, but mine only lasts a second. i just thought it was because the oil likes to settle when the car sits for a while and gets cold.

for the op, i would check your oil level before you continue to run that car.

if anyone knows exactly what it is, im all ears.

can't be the injectors. Perhaps pinpoint where the noise is coming from with one of those scopes where you put up to your ears

After replacing the front and rear valve cover gaskets the engine has a loud clicking noise and also vibrates:

http://s1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee376/jwholley68/?action=view&current=VID00005.mp4

This began the second I started the engine after reassembling it. The noise doesn't go away after warming up. It has given no cel codes. The noise is coming from bank 1. It sounds as if a lifter is stuck in one of those rear valves?

The first thing I did was check the oil and it measured good. I changed the oil twice since then and added in some CD2 detergent but it made no difference. Even though injectors 4 and 6 had partially broken teeth on thier pintle caps it's too loud to be an injector clipping. I checked all the coils and injectors.

I'll be removing the plenum and rear valve cover in a few hours. I'll measure the valve clearnace with a feeler guage using EM-49. Have any of you guys ever adjusted these lifters?

I don't think its gonna be your clearances. That's too low pitched. Sounds like a piston or rod knock to me. Did u leave any tools or rags under the valve cover? You may have valve/piston contact.

Did it make this sound b4 you did vc gaskets?

Timing Chain Tensioner

This ticking noise didn't start until after replacing those valve cover gaskets.

It does sound lower pitched when listening from the internet. In person it was a much higher pitched ticking noise.

The sound was coming from the top of bank 1 so I removed the rear valve cover again. It looked well lubricated and clean. I checked the valve clearances by turning the crankshaft pulley and they all measured fine.

A friend said it most likely is a dirty lifter getting stuck. I probably dropped some sort of garbage in there earlier. I splashed a small amount of CD2 on top of all 12 of those rear bank lifters. When I first started it after ressamby it ticked but at a much faster pace than earlier. After about 30 seconds the ticking stopped and she's now running smooth again.

Next time I remove those valve covers I'll be more cautious.

Maybe AIR trapped in the hydraulic lifters?

Our lifters aren't hydraulic but mechanical with shims and buckets. Could air get trapped in a mechanical lifter?

Iam gona have to disagree, in the service manual it says if removed not to lay on sides if you do air can get in them and will have to be bleed, you can only do so if you put them in oil.I am only taking this quote from my repair manual.

I was waiting for a senoir to back me up and correct you on your statement but it looks like they didn't get around to reading this thread .

With no floating rockers in the VQ30DE you could get never fit a hydraulic lifter in there. It's a direct link from valves to shims to cam.