Okay, so I wrote about a scraping noise I have on cold starts here a while back and got nothing. The colder it is, the worse it is, sometimes it sounds painful. Usually it doesn't happen in warm weather, just occasionally and if it does it's very minor. So colder makes it worse. Well today I noticed a ticking at a red light. My engine hadn't warmed up yet, it was still all the way in the cold, and at the light I had a very light ticking noise, that increased only in frequency when I revved. No change in pitch, just the number of times (it sounds in sync with the crankshaft, like once or twice everytime the engine spins all the way around). Then, once I got home, my engine had fully warmed up (about 1 mile) and I sat in the driveway, and the noise had vanished...

Does anyone know what it is? I get a scraping noise on colder starts, even in the 70's it happens just not very bad at all, and then I get some very faint ticking until the engine is warm. Ideas? I'll have time to put it in the shop in a couple weeks because I"m having shoulder surgery and won't be able to drive for a couple weeks.

 

Sounds like the lifters are sticking,things might get expensive if you can't do the work yourself. Reason why it happens in colder weather is it takes longer for the oil to get to the lifters and lube them up properly. As far as the scraping noise, i had a similar noise and narrowed it down to the starter. I changed it out, and no more scraping . Good luck man.

 

My starter does sound a little weak... Like sometimes it has trouble cranking the engine at first...

I'm thinking maybe I should run seafoam through my crankcase and see if that clears it up. If oil isn't reaching the lifters immediately and unsticking them, then wouldn't seafoam in there clean them up somewhat and possibly make it a little better? Last time I used it I only ran it throught he gas tank and the vacuum lines and that made a huge difference so I guess it's a possiblity.

I run Mobil 1 10W-30, would that have anything to do with it?

 

Starter could potentially be the problem. I'm pretty certain you can get it tested somewhere before you buy another one to make sure you aren't just throwing money at the problem. As far as seafoam goes, ehhh... never been a huge fan of running something like that through my engine, but I have heard some decent things about it. Might as well try it before you spend 300 bucks on a new set of lifters, and have a pretty hefty labor fee as well. I run 10w-30 as well, that wouldn't affect anything so don't worry about that.

 

Make sure to check for a cracked exhaust manifold for the ticking noise. These car's a/c compressor drips onto the passenger side manifold and can cause it to crack over time. Happened to my car twice in two years.

 

Remeber, when things warm up they expand, and when they get cold they contract. Now think of a small hole in your exhaust.

 

hmm. I guess I"ll check my exhaust manifolds... I went up to o'reilly and had them check my started, and the guy there had never tested starters before, but he gave me the voltage change numbers, and it was something like 12V down to 10V. I'm guessing that's bad right? Maybe there's an issue with the starter.

But would a weak starter cause problems with the scraping (under the car, it really doesn't sound like scraping though...)/noise, or no?

I'm gonna go and check my exhaust manifolds, where exactly is the best place to check for leaks on them?

 

okay, so I'm almost certain now that it's an exhaust leak... no idea exactly where, but my exhaust is fairly rusted from the manifolds all the way to the tail pipe... And I have noticed that dripping you guys talk about, and I can see how that could cause some spot to rust through. My question is, where exactly is that spot? Is it the manifold or somewhere down towards the mid pipe? I may be able to convince my parents to let me just get a new exhaust system, and maybe long tubes if I'm lucky, depending on how much they will cost...

 

I am having that same noise when i start up mine. It kinda sounds like its coming from the intake manifold though. I have already replaced my exhaust manifolds because i had a big crack in the passenger side one. i made sure to clean the heads before i put on the gasket and headers. Anybody think that it could be the intake manifold leaking or something?

 

Dude I would almost guarantee it's your exhaust manifold. Just get some take off headers from a 94-98 3.8. Thats what I'm doing monday