By "piston slapping," I mean piston glazing the surface of the cylinder wall. And my SA is saying this is normal for this car when the car is cold.

Background: I kept hearing this slight noise when gently accelerating from stop. It's easier to hear it when the car is cold at first start up...at least that's what it appears to me.

Anyone heard of this issue?

 

Haven't heard this issue myself, but I would be concerned hearing it on such a new motor. Good thing there's a powertrain warranty!

 

Sorry to bump an older thread but I as well have noticed a piston slap noise on cold start-ups. It makes the car sound like a diesel. Yes, I know its direct injection & the fuel injectors make noise but this sound is different.

 

It's pretty normal for the 2GR-FE block. The ES350 and camry, rav4 V6s suffer from the same noise when cold. My IS350 sounds clattery when cold as well. However, I can tell you that I'm at 147K and have not had any engine problems. It just seems to be the nature of these engines. If it does not go away after warming up, then there is definitely a problem. See this video for reference:


Hope this puts your concerns to ease. I don't even know if a new engine block would fix this.

 

Good to know. Thanks for posting the video.

 

^Man, in that video it was so obvious. Glad mine doesn't sounds like, even in the 20 degree temps we had this winter.

 

Afraid I don't accept that an engine making that noise is normal. It may well be common, but it's not normal and it's not good. And I wouldn't give the issue credibility by defining it as something ("piston slap") that might be interpreted as common, normal, OK or anything other than BAD!