Flanker271

For fellow Lexus owners who live in the snow belt states, does your GS make a engine clatter noise during cold morning startup? This noise is only present after the car has been sit for 5 hours or more. It goes away after 1 minute of driving, and subsequent warm startups does not produce this noise. My GS only has 2800 miles on it and I've made an appointment with the dealer this weekend for diagnosis. Chances are they will claim that they couldn't reproduce the noise because (obviously) I had to drive to the dealer.

bclexus

It's hard to determine what exactly you mean by 'engine chatter'. Chances are the noise you are hearing is only the direct fuel injection system, which is a little louder upon cold start versus what it sounds like when warm. This noise is common and not just associated with the GS 350 or Lexus vehicles. If it is not the direct fuel injection system making the noise it could be coming from one of the VVTi camshaft controllers that is operated by oil pressure, which may be slow to get to the controller due to cold engine oil, or using a higher [wrong] viscosity engine oil than the 0W-20 that is recommended. This VVTi camshaft controller noise is usually a very loud rattle that lasts only 3-4 seconds at most until engine oil is pumped up to the controller.

Seppo

I have not experienced clatter on cold starts. In recent -5 deg F to + 15 deg F starts, the idle has been noticeably higher than usual for the first minute, as much as 2,600 RPM for a thirty second interval, but no clattering noise. This is on a 2014 GS350 AWD with 55k miles.

What I have noticed, however, is the HVAC system not keeping up with the cold ambient temperatures. It takes twenty five miles of driving at 10 degrees for the heater to make reasonably adequate heat. I drove diesels for ten years and was used to their marginal heater performance, inevitable with diesel thermal characteristics. This GS gasoline engine HVAC is not as feeble as my old Volkswagen diesel, but surely no better than the BMW four-cylinder's heater. Our Audi, and past Audis and Fords had much more robust winter heater performance.

Flanker271

It is more of a metallic rattling sound. I've gotten used to the direct fuel injection sound and is positive that it's not the injectors. Between September 2017 (when I took delivery) up to a few weeks ago, the rattle sound was not present. I did some google search using the keyword VVTi camshaft and found an article below, which seems to be describing my issue pretty spot on. The rattle I hear however lasted longer than 3-4 seconds. It lasted for about 30 sec to 1 min.

http://carspecmn.com/toyota-and-lexu...tle-2gr3gr4gr/

Flanker271

Yes I've noticed this as well. Idle RPM is high at around 2,600 rpm, but on my '17 it idles at this speed for a solid 3-4 minutes before coming down to ~2,200 rpm. Also agreed that the heater seems to be slow to heating up the cabin. I leave the climate control on auto.

bclexus

It would be highly unusual for a car with only 2,800 miles to have issues with the VVTi controller...and especially an issue where the rattle noise lasted more than a few seconds. I would tend to look elsewhere for the cause of the noise. Any type of oil starvation issue would not last 30 seconds to 1 minute. The only [other] thing that comes to mind may be an idler pulley for the timing chain. Other than that, I'm drawing a blank... Could the noise be coming from an engine accessory, such as the A/C compressor or alternator?

Flanker271

Will report back this weekend on what the dealer finds. I was originally planning to wait until the 5,000 miles mark before taking it in for the complementary service, but this rattle concerns me a bit. Also there is a whining noise coming from the drivetrain between 40-50 mph that I also wanted the dealer to take a look.

joedaddy1

iTrader: (1)

my 2015 makes all kinds of weird noise in cold weather.. but that's been normal for all my cars when temperature is below 10 degrees...

I think it's the oil being thick and pump and other items needing to work harder until underhood temperature goes up a bit.

I am talking weird noise and car not even moving much with foot off the brakes...

It usually goes away within a minute or two of driving.. I definitely baby the car during those 2 minutes though.. (i let the car warm up at least 30 seconds before putting it into D/R

peasodos

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like direct injection noise on a cold start, normal for our cars:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...reduction.html

bclexus

Even in summertime heat it takes far longer than most people realize for the engine and transmission internals and oils to reach normal operating temperature. During cold wintertime temperatures it can easily take 20-30 minutes or longer for the engine and transmission to reach normal operating temperatures.

OneFunGS

OP: these cars use 0W oil which (correct me if I am wrong) will flow better but also drain quicker from the top end. So a cold startup is somewhat starved for oil for a few seconds until all gets going and then everything is right with the world.

My car does the same thing but it was -30*F here the past few days and she still runs well....

joedaddy1

iTrader: (1)

I agree with you on that one... my temperature gauge doesn't hit the normal range for about 25 minutes into my drive in the last few days...

sometimes i actually turn off the car after 10-15 seconds and restart after 30 seconds or so, because the engine sounds REALLY bad.... temps below -5 degrees and car sitting for at least 2-3 days.. scares me..

all with 0w-20 oil... cold weather is just hard on car engines..

bclexus

Most people would be astonished how long the engine oil really takes to reach the normal operating temperature of 100°C (212°F), especially when the ambient temperature is below freezing. And if the ambient temperature is 0°F, or heaven-forbid below 0°F, the engine oil probably will never reach normal operating temperature. Same goes for the transmission... And, just because the water/antifreeze temperature reaches the normal mark on the gauge does NOT mean the engine and transmission is anywhere remotely close to reaching normal operating temperature.

Most engine wear comes from cold starts when the engine lacks bearing lubrication for a brief period of time, not necessarily from mileage driven or hours of use. The colder the engine, the longer it takes lubrication to reach all areas of the engine.

Too bad we don't have gauges as standard equipment for engine oil temperature and transmission fluid temperature.

lovemyGSFS

that chatter is normal at cold start I have a 16 with just 12K miles and it makes a chatter after sitting all night doesn't matter the temp outside.
My 2011 Infiniti M37 did the same thing the dealer is going to say that's normal value train noise. and it only last for about 10 seconds on my car.

lovemyGSFS

that chatter is normal at cold start I have a 16 with just 12K miles and it makes a chatter after sitting all night doesn't matter the temp outside.
My 2011 Infiniti M37 did the same thing the dealer is going to say that's normal value train noise. and it only last for about 10 seconds on my car.

and the link is taking about older models and it's not coming from Lexus. I wouldn't worry to much