My wife's new TL, less than 2000 miles, knocks for about the first 30 seconds when the engine is cold. The dealer claims it's piston slap and it's normal -- "they all do it" because the oil hasn't made it to the top of the motor. Her old CL didn't knock and none of the Toyota's I've owned ever did it.....

Anyone eleses' knock when you first start it up?

 

there has been a few times where I would get a slight knock at start up but nothing like you are describing. I mean this was a quick knock then it would idle fine, it wouldnt knock for 30 seconds. Now that i think about it, it hasnt happened it quite some time.

 

my 2004 w/ 20k miles, an my 1989 toy pickup (3vze v6) w/ 365k miles both do it.

 

Piston slap is nothing to shrug off. Ask any owner of a GM truck.

Go here for more info....


www.pistonslap.com

 

I'd piston slap the dealer for telling you that crap

 

Never happens here...and we have some COLD startups around here!

 

I had a 2003 Honda bike which did that when I first got it. The dealer had a service advisory for it. A cylinder head gasket sealer was blocking one of the oil channels.

 

Do you hear the noise inside the car or outside the car? The all don't do that, mine's as quiet as a church mouse.

My wife's Accord does it a little on really cold days, even when I used to use Mobil 1 - no adverse affects after 85K miles.

 

I live in Minnesota and we get plenty of cold days, including sub-zero ones.
My '04 has NEVER made any loud or unusual noises at start-up, even sitting outside at work in those sub-zero temps.
Most definitely nothing that sounds like piston slap.

 

Our 2005 makes no odd noise on startup.
Some people get noise out of the motor when they use a cheap oil filter that allows the oil to run back down into the pan. On startup, the pump has to fill the oil filter before the oil gets to the moving parts.
I use the Mobil 1 filter, and never had the noise.

I dont think piston slap would be normal in a newer engine, my old Jaguar
did it, but it had 140,000 miles on it, and it had a thin block with ribs on it that amplified the noise.
It also did it longer then 30 seconds, 30 seconds sounds like oil pressure....

A newer engine should be tight.
What weight oil are you running?
What are the outside temps like?
What brand oil filter?

Brett

 

if they tell you that "they all do it", make them show you others that do it. go start a demo or loaner and if it doesn't do it, ask them how "they all do it" except that one.

and no, mine does not make any strange sounds when started cold.

 

Have the dealer start another tl at the dealership to see if the same thing happens. If it does, then it's normal. If it doesn't, then you can point it out to them. I personally do not have knocking sounds when starting.

 

Mine has never done this in nearly 2 1/2 years of ownership. The dealer is BS-ing you. Go back and demand a real answer.

 

First, it wasn't really a "knock" but more of a "tick" that lasted for about 20 or 30 seconds and wasn't audible inside the car just if you were standing outside. We were on vacation all last week, when my wife started it up yesterday afternoon I didn't hear it..... the car only has about 2,300 miles on it. I'll continue to monitor it and have her take it to a different dealer if it persists -- we live in Dallas so there are three dealers around here.

 

My lawnmower suffers from piston slap. If my acura did it I wouldn't be very happy.

If what you are hearing is more of a tick I wouldn't worry about it all, it's probably just a little valvetrain noise and once it warms up a little and gets oil it goes away. Just take it easy on it until the motor warms up(should be common sense anyway).

 

Rough (feels like it's "missing") running for a few minutes after a cold start while emissions are kept in check - YES

Slapping noise - NEVER.

I call BS as many others have.

 

That is NOT piston slap. Piston slap is from excessive clearances and goes away after the engine warms up. No way that can happen in 30 seconds. In my first Cobra, we did have that. It was not an issue. They had to build the clearance in due to forged pistons. But these cars should not have that...and you don't. This sounds like lifter/follower noise from the oil draining down. Believe it or not, check your oil filter. I would make sure I had a factory filter on there. Many have check valves to prevent drain back.

 

Dealer's a moron...

Piston Slap is defined above, and it's not that.

The sound of hydraulic lifters being filled with oil for 30 seconds as the oil pump builds pressure is normal on most modern day engines. It's more pronounced in the cold, as the oil is thicker, and thus takes longer to move through the oil jets.

If it's excessively loud or goes more than 30 seconds, start worrying.

 

Only the 3.2 TL's (96-98) had hydraulic lifters, 99 up are solid lifters, not even that, the rocker acts directly on the cam. If it's only a tick don't worry about it.

 

Hi, you are probably using the wrong oil, make sure you use the 5w and not the 10w, as this will greatly reduce the ticking sound. hydrolic thing. hope it helps, scarface, oh btw, if you play online poker, check out this cool new site it's a poker remote control instead of the mouse, hope taht helps too. peace. i am scarface.