Knocking/ticking sounds on cold morning starts? 2004 Tacoma 2.7L engine.

[Randall53]

My son has started noticing his Tacoma making a knocking or ticking sound on cold mornings when he first starts it up. After 20 or 30 seconds it stops and won't do it anymore that day. It doesn't do it on warm mornings either, only on cold mornings. It has 130K miles. I've found a long thread on a tacoma forum that talks about this very thing and it seems a LOT of these engines to this. There's even a sound bite someone recorded of theirs that sounds exactly like my sons. Some on the thread are saying piston slap since it goes away in 30 seconds or so. Some say it's the shim-under-bucket valve setup these engines have making the noise until oil gets to them after a few seconds and can be eliminated by using a thinner viscosity oil in cold winter months. Do any of you gentlemen have a tacoma that   does this on startup on cold winter mornings?  Any info/suggestions/experiences with this would be much appreciated.

[SupaRice]

My wife's 4Runner has sounded like a sowing machine since new ( '10 Model ).... Her dad's ( '98 ) has like 280k on it and sounds like someone dragging a dump truck down the road on it's roof (he changes the oil about once every 3 years).  Toyota doesn't make finely tuned machines, but they sure are damn hard to kill.

[enfield]

Try a FRAM oil filter.  It cured the same problem on my old Ranger.  Oil was draining out of the lifters overnite, and the FRAM filter seemed to have a better check valve in it that stopped, or at least slowed, the drainback and cured the problem.

[Lumber_Jack]

This is a very VERY common problem. My FJ 2014 sounds just like a sewing machine, as SupaRice says. One of my bosses asked me, does your motor Tick? His Taco 2006 and his wife's FJ 2009, both do exactly what you say.

[Lumber_Jack]

I use "problem" loosely as I don't think it's an issue, just a common noise that other motor manufactures don't have.

[SupaRice]

Yeah, I wouldn't classify it a problem either. I asked a guy who's a Toyota tech and has been a long time... "that's just the way they are".

 

Heck, if you could see her dad's 4Runner and listen to that thing..... You'd think you were driving a Ferrari. But it still pulls his trailer and gets from A to B

[Randall53]

thanks for all the replies.  I've probably read posts in 5 different forums that said it was common for these engines to sound like that.  I did want to run it by here of course. There's lots of knowledge here and it'd be crazy not to tap into it!!  

[Patton]

That tick is not unheard of and neither is that engine lasting 500k miles.

[Wingshooter]

I just had a similar sound repaired on my dodge ram hemi. There were a couple of bolts broken on the exhaust manifold. It would tick on colder morning start ups then go away as it warmed up.

[Dirtshooter]

Ok don't want to start an argument here, but try a Wix oil filter and some lucas oil treatment. How often do you change your oil and what kind do you use. I would recommend Castrol either high mileage or synthetic. Chances are it isn't pistol slap as that would sound more like a knock and not a tick. Drive it like you stole it, but change your oil and filter on a very regular basis.

[DWARREN123]

Yep a lighter oil in colder months and a premium oil filter would help. 

[Sam1]

I like you mentioned would use thinner oil.

 

This or use something like lucas oil additive or another treatment that helps oil soak into or stick to the metal.

[Sam1]

Try a FRAM oil filter.  It cured the same problem on my old Ranger.  Oil was draining out of the lifters overnite, and the FRAM filter seemed to have a better check valve in it that stopped, or at least slowed, the drainback and cured the problem.

 

Wait a second, they make oil filters with check valves?  Never seen that before.

[aquaman67]

My Chevy Blazer with 250,000 miles started ticking at start up.

I added 1/2 of a bottle of Seafoam to the oil.

Drove it for 5 days (10 miles round trip to work) - then changed the oil.

The tick went away.

Now before I change the oil I add another 1/2 bottle of Seafoam for a week.

This truck has a magnetic drain plug and is covered in "gunk" at every oil change.

[wewoapsiak]

One cause I've heard, not that frequently mind you, is that it's an "normal" issue with the exhaust manifold bend radius iirc.

Second, and main one if you here it on the drivers side is the vacuum solenoid valve chattering. Chris on tacoma world did a cheap o ring fix and it works for some people. My tacoma ticks in the winter (and have since I got it 70k miles ago) even with expensive oil and premium or 100% gas, just turn up the radio :-D

Edited December 10, 2015 by wewoapsiak

[enfield]

Yes, oil filters have check valves - that's what the oil filter engineer at Ford Engine Division told me. He also recommended the Fram filter over a Motorcraft.

[enfield]

Vacuum solenoids can be noisy when cold. But they're always noisy - they don't become noisy at high mileage.

[NextExit]

Now before I change the oil I add another 1/2 bottle of Seafoam for a week.

^^^ This

Marvel Mystery Oil also works terrific.