Raspy Petrol Engine Only Whn Cold

[Wudzy]

Anyone with a 2lt petrol engine noticed a sort of raspy/ diesel engine type noise from the engine which goes in a few minutes from a very cold start.

At first I thought it was a tappet when I first heard it and checked the oil etc all well there. It is not quite as harsh as a tappet though. Had a Google and others on the American site seem to have had a similar noise and a mention of injector noise and was normal for the Rav.

Just wondered is this a reasonable answer to the problem as I have never experianced it on the past Fords I have had.

It's an engine bay noise not an exhaust output noise, I also thought it may be a catalytic vibration noise. I must admit I have not raised the bonnet as I have been driving up the road from home and can not stop on that road. The noise goes within a mile and I have forget about it until the next very cold start.

Cheers

John

[bothwell_buyer]

Not an engine that I've worked on yet

Looking simply at it, and when you say its when its cold, the VVT system works on oil pressure from the engine. If the oil is cold, maybe its taking very slightly longer to do its job? What mileage has the car done and is an oil change due ?

Some of the folk with this model here may share what oil they use in the engine.

I have an oil pressure light which is lit momentarily on starting, and comes on again momentarily in cold weather conditions. Then theres a fair amount of oil to get pumped round the engine and turbo so I take it easy until the engine heats up. Thats my 3SGTE engine though which is quite different from the layout of the 1AZ-FE.

[Wudzy]

Hi,

No it's not an oil issue as all new and up to level, 35k miles but, I know where you are coming from and just what I thought. I checked the oil on level ground just to be sure, all was well and all lovely and new in colour.

It's not quite a tappet noise but when heard it was the first think that came to mind, a sort of slow lifter.

especially with cold thick oil.

I did have a Scorpio that did exactly that and did produce the tappet tick and did go when warm.

I don't know if you remember one of my posts mentioned the high choke tick over when cold, now it may well be a tappet but the engine does around 1600 rpm when really cold and then goes down to normal after a couple of minutes or so.

Now I thought modern engine managements produced normal tick over what ever the temperature which my Scorpio did always around 800 rpm what ever the temp.

I can live with the above but, would love to know if this is a norm or near norm as there are no other issues that cause any concern. In fact I have just used £30.00 of petrol with mixed motoring, around two thirds Motorway and returned 191 mls ( and ours are quite hilly around here) and it works out at 30 mpg which is very similar to the Scorpio, so I am quite happy with that. (Just edited, all the motorway miles were done at around 62mph for a test, normally run at 70 ish but may well follow the wagons if petrol keeps going up and up in price.... ;) )

Drifted a bit from the topic, so there we have it, According to the sister site they seem to say that it is injector crack which I have never heard of so we will have to see if any fellow petrol owners experience a similar effect.

Cheers

John

[bothwell_buyer]

Funny one - ye 1600 is a bit fast.

On the 3SGTE I'm getting about 1200 when cold which then drops down to around 800. However, we think there may be an air leak on the intake side - will get that checked out when the car goes in for the rear suspension re-build....got word that the rear sway bar should arrive from USA this week.

Not a high mileage, and if you've got nice new oil, then we maybe need to wait until folk get back from their Easter Monday jaunt.

Petrol consumption is good!

I had the opposite with my Renault Trafic (Espace 2.2 petrol) engine. The tappets on cylinder 4 had a tendency to tighten up...resulting in backfiring through the air intake and blowing the cover off the air filter. The rear cylinder is difficult to access but managed to get it tightened last winter after an engine top end strip down and check. Being a high top minibus and lpg, garages up here either wouldn't touch it, or couldn't get it into their bays...got a dent to prove it.

Nothings straight forward apart from paying government taxes.

[anchorman]

If you want to listen to the injectors (to see if the noise ties up with what you are hearing) get a large screwdriver and put the tip firmly on the top of the injector and press your ear onto the end of the handle. The ticking will be amplified and transmitted to your ear.

Just a thought but for a little while while the engine is cold the fuel tank vapours are fed through the charcoal filter. I can't remember where it is on the 4.2 but it is a black plastic cylinder that looks a bit like a an inline fuel filter with vacuum pipes on it. During this short phase of operation it can generate a kind of hollow rattling noise in time with the intake strokes (half engine speed) of the pistons as it is connected to the inlet manifold.

[bothwell_buyer]

If you want to listen to the injectors (to see if the noise ties up with what you are hearing) get a large screwdriver and put the tip firmly on the top of the injector and press your ear onto the end of the handle. The ticking will be amplified and transmitted to your ear.

Just a thought but for a little while while the engine is cold the fuel tank vapours are fed through the charcoal filter. I can't remember where it is on the 4.2 but it is a black plastic cylinder that looks a bit like a an inline fuel filter with vacuum pipes on it. During this short phase of operation it can generate a kind of hollow rattling noise in time with the intake strokes (half engine speed) of the pistons as it is connected to the inlet manifold.

When doing this, avoid sticking the screwdriver on the spark plug or ht lead....

[anchorman]

If you want to listen to the injectors (to see if the noise ties up with what you are hearing) get a large screwdriver and put the tip firmly on the top of the injector and press your ear onto the end of the handle. The ticking will be amplified and transmitted to your ear.

Just a thought but for a little while while the engine is cold the fuel tank vapours are fed through the charcoal filter. I can't remember where it is on the 4.2 but it is a black plastic cylinder that looks a bit like a an inline fuel filter with vacuum pipes on it. During this short phase of operation it can generate a kind of hollow rattling noise in time with the intake strokes (half engine speed) of the pistons as it is connected to the inlet manifold.

When doing this, avoid sticking the screwdriver on the spark plug or ht lead....

You won't nod off while listening and be sure to keep your mouth slightly open to avoid HT sparks leaping from the top to bottom fillings

[Wudzy]

Thanks Anchorman,

If my memory (senior moments) allows me to listen before I set off tomorrow I will investigate further before the weather turns warmer...mind you the way it is at the moment I may have quite a few days to investigate...

Is it normal to have these revs when very cold?...it reminds me of the old days when you pulled the choke out and push it home when warm..

The problem does not worry me though I would like to know what it is and I think the high rpm is coupled as both seem settle together.

Thanks again

John

[Wudzy]

If you want to listen to the injectors (to see if the noise ties up with what you are hearing) get a large screwdriver and put the tip firmly on the top of the injector and press your ear onto the end of the handle. The ticking will be amplified and transmitted to your ear.

Just a thought but for a little while while the engine is cold the fuel tank vapours are fed through the charcoal filter. I can't remember where it is on the 4.2 but it is a black plastic cylinder that looks a bit like a an inline fuel filter with vacuum pipes on it. During this short phase of operation it can generate a kind of hollow rattling noise in time with the intake strokes (half engine speed) of the pistons as it is connected to the inlet manifold.

When doing this, avoid sticking the screwdriver on the spark plug or ht lead....

You won't nod off while listening and be sure to keep your mouth slightly open to avoid HT sparks leaping from the top to bottom fillings

HA,Ha...love it

I remember using a screwdriver on a Rover SD! I had a missfire and as you point out if they are your own teeth then you won;t have them long...what a vibration..

Yep, the revs do seem high to me and at the wrong time...thick oil not in the right places for high revs...What I do is drive off as soon as it starts and the traction slows the revs...

It was mentioned some unit may be at fault...then I checked the price...think I will carry on driving off right away....

I will keep you posted as to the outcome...if any

Cheers

John