Engine Noise

[Sho Nutz]

Heres a question for you all,

THe 94 atx been sitting in the garage. Not been started in about 4 weeks. Has been extremely cold here the last week. Lows were -5 here friday night. Anyway I started the car saturday, temp was about 10 degrees. Car started right up and idled perfectly. But after running for about 10 seconds there was a noticable noise, I dont want to say it was a knock, but it never made this noise before. I shut the engine off as quickly as I could and have not touched it since.

I am running heavy oil in the engine. Now I am crossing my fingers hoping that it is just the oil being thick and very cold that allowed this noise. Everyone I talk to seems to think the same.

My question is, What should I do ? Start the vehicle and let it run and see if it goes away or unhook ignition and crank it ? I am at a loss here. I am getting ready to try to sell the car and can't afford to damage anything. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Yamaha V6]

Umm, maybe ditch the "heavy" oil, and throw something in there that stands a chance of flowing in -5 weather? I've heard of some people using 20-50 in the SHO (WAY too thick) to quiet the knock (I wouldn't), but certainly not in winter.

FWIW, we've been having a nice cold spell here in New England, and some mornings when it was like -6 on my EATC, the oil light would stay on for a few seconds. For kicks I just dumped the M1 5-30 in favor for some M1 0-30 in my 95 ATX. I personally don't like 0-30 all that much, but I'm concerned with cold weather starting, especially since I haven't gotten around to changing the bearings on my engine, which is about to turn 100k miles.

Good luck, & let us know how you make out.

 

[Sho Nutz]

Ok, here is where I run into the problem....

15w50 synthetic in the car now. I do not drive the car unless it is nice out. So a couple more weeks or months depending on jack frost. So I guess she will sleep in the garage until then.

I do not want to damage the engine and where the car is sitting now, there is no way to change the oil. Thats why I asked if I should just start it and leave it run and see if it clears up.

The engine has never made noise before now and it makes me a little nervous you know ?

 

[93EmeraldMTX]

you could put a heater under the oil pan for a few hours and heat up your engine, then start it.

 

[wood_e]

Yeah try ot heat up the oil before you start it. 15W-50 should never be used in the SHO, especially in winter.

 

[MyFirstSHO]

"some mornings when it was like -6 on my EATC"

Wow, I didn't know it went that low!! eek!