[Rilt3g]

My car has a loud rattle/tap at start up. But it doesn't happen all the time, very inconsistent but often. Does anyone else have this? I've heard it could be a lifter but it is much louder than a lifter tap, and it seems to be coming from the left side of my engine bay. My car is a 2005 3g eclipse GT Spider. Anything helps!

 

[repforenzo]

You need to post a video.


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[Rilt3g]

It also only happens at startup, as soon as It gets warmed up, the sounds goes away and the car runs great.

 

[Rilt3g]

Heres a video of the sound

 

[repforenzo]

I was going to say it was the lash adjusters.... after hearing it, I'm not so sure. Can you send another video with it warmed up and with the sound faded?

 

[Rilt3g]

I can't as of now, but when warmed up it runs perfectly, no abnormal sounds coming from the engine bay at all. And as I said in my first post, it doesn't even do it at every cold start, does it very irregularly.

 

[repforenzo]

It's likely something in your valve train. I would recommend getting a mechanic's stethoscope to isolate where the sound is truly coming from. They are super cheap.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

If the sound goes away after the engine warms up then it could be the timing belt tensioner. I had the same noise and it went away after a timing belt / tensioner replacement.

 

[bklos]

I bought my car with 120K miles on it from my son and it always made the exact same noise as you posted in the video. My son bought the car new and had it well maintained.
I just sold the car this past fall with 212K miles on it and it never caused a problem. I was told this noise is a common problem with the V6 caused by insufficient oil getting to the lifters during cold start up. The colder the weather, the louder the noise and the longer it lasted. If I started the car in cold weather and just drove off, the noise would be loud and last several miles. I greatly improved this by doing two things. One, I would start the car and if it was making the noise, I would let the car run for ten to fifteen seconds and then turn the car off for 15 seconds. Then I would restart the engine and the noise was usually gone. In extreme cold weather, the engine would make the noise after restarting, but at a much lower volume. I would repeat the procedure and the noise would go away. I did try adding Seafoam and that did help some, but I won't recommend it's use as I believe it simply thins the oil and that could cause problems over time. In warm weather, the engine would only make the noise about once or twice a week out of about ten starts.