On cold-starts, I hear a rattle from my engine for about 1 second upon starting. It's similar to the rattle heard when you change your oil and fire it up for the first time.

Running 5W-30. It does it no matter the ambient temp, but always on a cold start. After 1 second, i never hear it again.

It's starting to annoy me, and I'd like to fix it. Problem is i'm not sure what part is suspect, or what to inspect? I know there is a removable cover on the timing cover to peek through.

I did find this, but not sure if it's my issue.

http://my350z.com/forum/forced-induc...tensioner.html

Anyone else have some input on this rattle? From searching, it seems very common in higher mileage nissan motors (I have 130K miles on mine), but nobody really details a fix, or things to look for. Most people just live with it. I can't.

 

There is nothing to fix.

The timing chain tensioners on our G's are powered by oil pressure, so until the oil pressure hits the tensioner it's loose and rattles for a second - the amount of time it takes the pressurized oil to get to the tensioner and take up the slack.

Last month I pulled the heads on my '04 and did a valve job (had to - lost a huge chunk of one valve mysteriously), and figured I would adjust the tensioner to take up some slack and stop that sound on startup, but alas, there is no adjustment.

It's kind of like the sound your car makes when the ABS system goes through it's brief system check when you first start driving the car - annoying but regular and expected.

Hope this helps.

 

This seems to be a little more pronounced on mine after my rev-up has drank some of the oil.

 

Makes sense - lower oil volume in the pan may mean longer to pump the oil throughout the system and get the pressure up where needed. Regardless, the tensioners are pressurized by the oil - its all in the workshop manual.

 

Bingo. After xxxxx miles, every G will do it

 

I knew they were pressurized from oil, but having the car for nearly 130k miles, I know they didn't do this early on in its life.

I know it's an oil burner so I keep up with regular oil inspection. Guess I'll just have to learn to ignore it.

Trying hard to not find a reason to trade it in. Hard to do on a car that runs so well and is paid off.

 

you ever figure this out Mustang? Hottest day of the year here today, felt like 101+ out. I have 104k on my G and heard the cold start rattle for a split second for the first time in my 6 years of ownership. I see a lot of old posts saying it is normal but I don't believe that yet.

 

if you don’t believe it, prove it to yourself one way or another. Pull your ECM fuse, crank the motor for several seconds to build oil pressure, reinstall the fuse, then start it immediately. If it still rattles it’s unrelated to oil pressure. If it doesn’t rattle it is what everybody says it is, the chain tensioners.

 

I do believe that the rattle is what I read on here, which is the chain tensioners. I meant that I am unsure of whether I need to worry about this 1 second rattle I heard today. It was a bit surprising considering I only have 104k and keep up with my oil changes and level.

I made a post earlier today with a video of the rattle sound. Do you know if this is something that is not a big deal and I can deal with? Thank you, it goes away after but it was my first time hearing it.