nabbun

Holy smokes!

I started my car yesterday for the first cold start that day. When the engine cranked over, it sounded like a jack hammer was going off in my engine bay! I freaked out and shut off the engine. I checked the engine bay for anything loose or broken. Nothing. It was clean. So I started it up again and the noise was still there but it quickly died down and stopped. I've been driving it normally and the sound hasn't returned. I have a feeling it might have been caused by the car being shut off during a cold start. I moved the car out of the driveway and into the garage. It was the first and only time I have shut off the car seconds after the engine came to life and the next start it makes this crazy noise!

Has anyone gone through something like this or know what I'm babbling on about?

LexLeezard

Hey Nabbun: after five decades of driving experience with many, many different vehicles, all owned and driven during very harsh conditions in the Canadian North (as well as our nice, brief summers), my first thought would be oil starvation in the upper portions of the valve train. The telling thing about your description is the initial racket and then how the noise stopped. How long had it been sitting there without running? Have you checked your engine oil level lately? Are you on schedule for oil and filter changes, as well as overall system checkups? Good luck on determining the cause. Cheers / LexLeezard / 2008 GS460, brake disc and pad upgrade, no mods

KKM

It's a well documented issue with cold soak of the manifold, here is more information and discussion:

http://www.ct200hforum.com/forum/lex...ough-idle.html

nabbun

It was sitting overnight. I haven't checked my oil level yet. I'm at 12500 miles and I've been on track with my 5k and 10k service. Thanks mate.

nabbun

Thanks for the heads up. I'll speak with my service rep during my 15k. Unless the issue pops up again.

JayGoldste

This is my first winter with the CT. I've started the car at temperatures as low as -37C (thanks to the polar vortex) and only once did the engine made that racket. The noise is very disconcerting, but apparently no harm is done. It is a known issue with the 1.8L engine used in the CT and the Prius.

nabbun

Frightening, isn't it? Scared the living crap outta me!

FLYCT

Mine has done this 3 times to me. I took it to the dealer 2 days ago. The first start of the day after sitting overnight at the dealership it started normally. Later in the day the tech heard the noise but being alone could not isolate the source. Today they called and said in addition to the manifold service bulletin there is a similar noise bulletin relating to a bad rear engine mount.

They were not able to reproduce the noise again but they feel my noise is related to engine mount so one was ordered to be installed before returning my car to me. In the interim we're driving a brand new ES loaner.

JR

nabbun

Thanks for the info FlyCT