I have noticed this year since it has gotten cold that when my truck is first started when it is cold that it has a terrible ticking noise. It kind of sounds like a lifter that has no oil in a gasoline engine. It is not bad at idle just when you push on the throttle. It flucturates with the rpm's of the motor, If I plug my truck in at night it is not as bad. Any ideas?
Thanks for the help in advance.

 

Mine makes horrible noises too when cold. Sounds like the exhaust sprung a leak somewhere between the turbo and muffler, but there are no exhaust leaks.

Seems to run OK, but doesn't sound too good.

48k miles, stock except for power puck. Same with puck on or off.

 

username taken, I love your name.



But yeah, cold=noise.

 

My 03 does it a little when its cold with 93k on it and my 98 sounds awful but its got 222k.

 

Mine quieted down significantly in colder weather when I switched to Rotella Synthetic 5w40 oil, over the regular Rotella 15w40, fwiw. I think it just flows better in colder temps and cuts down on the metallic rattling.

..

 

Yeah, I realize that they are noisy when cold. I think I will try a different oil next time. Thanks for the help.

 

Normal, it'll get worse the more miles on the ticker.. The 5w40 syn will help, so will plugging in the block heater

 

Very likely evidence of cold oil being very slow to make it up to the rocker/trunnion area of the engine. Seems this is a place that wear is starting to show on a lot of trucks...particularly those that sit a day or two between being driven, and those with performance valvesprings.

--Eric

 

I would try a valve adjust, since when cold engine has max clearance. Then as engine heats up clearance decreases. Usually #6 cylinder is the noisy one. But I would adjust them all while cover is off. Just follow the procedure and you can't go wrong. Adjust on cold engine only.

 

Good thought. It looks like I know what I will be doing this weekend. My truck only has 47,000 miles on it. Do you still think they would need adjusted?

 

Interesting that you mention the oil. My last change was at a firestone that I don't usually go to, and they used Castrol - notoriously the worst oil out there.

Wonder if it will go away with a switch back to Delo or Rotella?

 

Are you sure it's not an injector noise you are hearing ? Mine ticks for a few minutes then goes away.

 

I am not sure. The only thing is it only does it when it is cold. Would an injector only do it when it was cold?

 

You are hearing normal cold start noises. Switch to 5-40 Rotella or Valvoline, you will be a believer after the first unplugged cold start.

 

You could get a 250 watt oil pan heater also. At 0F, plugged in for 2 hours, the oil is nice and warm and the engine is very quiet. Supposed to be much easier on the motor too as you're not slopping ice cold oil against very hot rings and you get instant oil pressure.