Cold Start Noise

[99lexus]

Hi everybody,

I live in NY. My 99 ES300, 115k is very noisy when I start it in the cold morning. The car takes about 10 minutes to get back to normal. I have just have the oil changed (Mobil 1, 5W-30) Do you have any experience about that?

Thank you in advanced,

[Lexusfreak]

Hi everybody,

I live in NY. My 99 ES300, 115k is very noisy when I start it in the cold morning. The car takes about 10 minutes to get back to normal. I have just have the oil changed (Mobil 1, 5W-30) Do you have any experience about that?

Thank you in advanced,

How long have you had the car & is this the first time you have noticed this?

I almost want to say piston slap (common on some higher mileage vehicles....especially GM V6's) or your valves need adjustment, but not 100% sure if the Lexus suffers from these conditions as it ages in the colder climates. B)

[SnesleyWipes]

Hi everybody,

I live in NY. My 99 ES300, 115k is very noisy when I start it in the cold morning. The car takes about 10 minutes to get back to normal. I have just have the oil changed (Mobil 1, 5W-30) Do you have any experience about that?

Thank you in advanced,

Need more details about what kinda noise but if its louder than normal, that's typical of any vehicle in the cold. The colder temperature results in a shrinkage in the metal of the engine (piston, cylinder, all movable parts) which in turn, by default results in more noise due to increased friction. The warmer the engine becomes, the less noise produced.

Hope this helps,

Snes

[99lexus]

Thank for your response,

I have owned this car for 6 months. It did not have this noise before. The Lexus dealer said there was nothing wrong but I know that it is not normal, compare to how it ran before or compare to my Honda Accord with the same age.

The noise: In the first minute, it sound like piston slap, but it is not as bad as the noise I have heard form the pistonslap web site. After that, it is just the noise of the engine.

Some people told me it was because of the Mobile 1 5W-30 since it is the lightest oil in the market.

Some said it is because of the bad oil filter.

Some said I should use Karosen to flush the engine.

What do your guy think?

Thanks,

[mburnickas]

Thank for your response,

I have owned this car for 6 months. It did not have this noise before. The Lexus dealer said there was nothing wrong but I know that it is not normal, compare to how it ran before or compare to my Honda Accord with the same age.

The noise: In the first minute, it sound like piston slap, but it is not as bad as the noise I have heard form the pistonslap web site. After that, it is just the noise of the engine.

Some people told me it was because of the Mobile 1 5W-30 since it is the lightest oil in the market.

Some said it is because of the bad oil filter.

Some said I should use Karosen to flush the engine.

What do your guy think?

Thanks,

I would do these.

Change the oil and filter.

Install a dino 5w-30 oil other then mobil 1. Maybe mobil ep?

Install a new wix or napa oil filter.

Or add come LC20 to the oil.

If it still does it maybe do an oil test.

[monarch]

If the noise started immediately after the oil and oil filter change then install a genuine Toyota part# 90915-YZZD1 oil filter to see if the noise will go away.

If the noise began before the oil and oil filter change then you might have an exhaust manifold gasket leak when the engine is cold that goes away as the engine warms up.

Using Mobil 1 oil alone could not have caused the noise. 115K miles is low mileage for a Toyota engine and there could not likely be enough internal engine wear to cause strange noises.

[RPrindl]

I would use a genuine Toyota oil filter also. Why somebody would want to save 5 bucks on a $35,000 Lexus is beyond me. Mobil1 5w30 is NOT the lightest oil on the market and is not the cause of the problem.

You could have reduced flow in the oil passages inside the motor. This would be worse during a cold start due to thick oil, in which case lighter synthetic oil is helping you not hurting you. The bad news is that it could be caused by the OIL SLUDGE problem, use the search here for more info.

What is the repair history (oil changes) for the car? You can pull the front valve cover off in a few minutes and find out how frequently the oil was changed, it may be ugly in there!

[mburnickas]

I would use a genuine Toyota oil filter also. Why somebody would want to save 5 bucks on a $35,000 Lexus is beyond me. Mobil1 5w30 is NOT the lightest oil on the market and is not the cause of the problem.

You could have reduced flow in the oil passages inside the motor. This would be worse during a cold start due to thick oil, in which case lighter synthetic oil is helping you not hurting you. The bad news is that it could be caused by the OIL SLUDGE problem, use the search here for more info.

What is the repair history (oil changes) for the car? You can pull the front valve cover off in a few minutes and find out how frequently the oil was changed, it may be ugly in there!

Using a toyota filter OEM (paper filter: aka old technology here) does not do anything or prevent anything. Plus there ARE better filters on the market. Saving $$$ is not the issues. Are Toyota filter good sure, but there filters are average at best.

This is also not the first time I have seen people complain on startup noise using mobil 1. Do a search online and you can view these issue yourself.

Oil sludge will NOT be shown by startup noise. Come on here people. Oil sludge will be shown by burning oil (smoking) oil consumption, high NOx, high OXD, low TBN, etc but not startup noises.

Based on the odds of having sludge is not gonna happen. I am doing 12,000 mile oil drains and inside my valve cover was fine. You want pix and oil tests??? Inside on my cover was mint.

[99lexus]

Thank you. Your guy are so nice here.

Mburnickas said that I can "pull the front valve cover off in a few minutes and find out how frequently the oil was changed" but I really do not know where the front valve cover is. Sorry for this stupid question. Can somebody help me, please!

For the repair history, the first owner gave me all the record, which show that the car was take cared buy a very well by a Lexus dealer.

If the noise come from Mobil1 then it mean Mobil 1 is not good for the cold weather or that noise is just normal, I can live with it without problem?

Have any of you tried to flush the engine with Karosen? Does it make any difference?

Thanks,

[mburnickas]

Thank you. Your guy are so nice here.

Mburnickas said that I can "pull the front valve cover off in a few minutes and find out how frequently the oil was changed" but I really do not know where the front valve cover is. Sorry for this stupid question. Can somebody help me, please!

For the repair history, the first owner gave me all the record, which show that the car was take cared buy a very well by a Lexus dealer.

If the noise come from Mobil1 then it mean Mobil 1 is not good for the cold weather or that noise is just normal, I can live with it without problem?

Have any of you tried to flush the engine with Karosen? Does it make any difference?

Thanks,

I did not say the valve cover deal, RPrindl did. Also pulling the valve cover off and seeing what you have will not tell you anything on "how frequent the oil was changed". It WILL tell you if the oil has left varnich, sludge, carbon, etc.

You can have a dino oil changed every 5,000 miles and still have varnish, carbon deposits etc. The oil used, engine temps etc all play a role. All engines leave carbon depots in the oil since it is burning fuel for energy. the ammount of carbon is integral to the burning. burn very clean means engine is running fine and vs versa. I would personly use something to clean up the deposits in the oil, pasages in the engines, carbon on rings etc; like LC20, seafoam, etc. And also I would use something in the fuel to clean the fuel sys since overtime they do get dirty.

Mobil is on the thin side of there rated oils. Or there cst is low (normal for oils). I would either try a different weight oil (10-30), kind of oil (non mobil), or then switch to a diff filter.

[RPrindl]

Good luck.

[99lexus]

Sorry. I was so busy that I didn't visit the forum for a long time. Just want to post some of my experience about my cold start problem.

-- My Problems: In cold start, the engine was so noisy. The car jerk when shifting from R to D.

-- What I Have Done but didn't help: Flushed the engine with Karosen; tried different brand of engine oil; used Toyota oil filter; used Seaform through throttle body, gas tank and engine oil; install new dog mount.

-- My Lexus dealer said: There was nothing wrong after one hour checking and give an check engine light on (more about this later)

-- My Experience: One day, I pick up a K&N filter to see how good it is. The problem almost gone: Less noisy in cold start. No more jerking when shift from R to D. I am not sure the new filter help me but after one NY winter, the problems didn't come back.

-- Some more experience with a Lexus deler in NY state: When they gave me back my car, the check engine light turned on when I was on the way home. When I came back, they told me that they can reset to turn off the light but my Cartalic converter was gone so the light would come back very soon. They gave me a quote for about $3,000 to get it fixed. One year later, my car still running without any check engine light!!!

Hope my experience can help some one.