mikep, I use bot the Motorcraft FL-820s and Walmart Supretech. Have tried AC Delco and Castrol Maxpro made by WIX??? Has no real effect either way. Mine is remote mounted and hangs vertical. The worst of mine is over in just a couple of seconds but if you listen closely it makes a slight noise for 30 - 45 seconds on pretty cool weather. Mine is not bad at all even at it's worst. I had a Mark VIII 4.6 DOHC that did the same thing and was told it was the timing chain adjusters on it. This sounds really similar just not quite as bad. I get rid of the Mark at 140,000 feally hard miles. It still ran fine as well. Wish I had that one back. That was a fun ride.
Piston Slap on Cold Starts
- Thread starter harbor
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Am I the only one here who has used Red Line Oil (their 5W30) to successfully quiet down a bad case of piston slap?
--- Bror Jace
--- Bror Jace
Given that it's been a pretty darn cold winter here (overnight temps frequently into the low teens)AND the Ford spec for my truck is 5w-20, I'm reluctant to use a 10w-30 even though I'm sure the extra viscosity would help quiet the problem. 5w-30 is about as high as I feel I can comfortably go....at least until warranty runs out in another 15,000 miles.
Mikep
Mikep
mikep, My 97 F-150 also has the piston slap. It was 18 degrees here in the Nashville area this morning. Mine usually subsides after 30-45 seconds. Currently running 5-30 Motorcraft and would like to find one that keeps it a little quieter although according to many mine is not very severe. So far the best I have tried was Valvoline MaxLife 5-30. I sort of quit using it when I read some of the analysis on this board. Does not seem to have much in they way of additives. If I am wrong I hope someone will correct me. It did help keep it somewhat quieter. Anyone with experience on this issue on the Fords?? By the way at 95,000 miles my piston slap is getting no worse it is just there. Still runs great though.
If that car uses a Mitsubishi built Automatic transmission the noise is more than likely the torque converter which is A-OK for life if serviced at proper intervals. If not disregard my post.
[ January 13, 2003, 06:18 AM: Message edited by: dragboat ]
I am a not so happy owner of a 99 Grand Am 3.4L V-6. Seriously, sometimes it sounds like it's gona blow up in the morning
. I've tried all different weights and brands of oil, all mobil 1 weights do not decrease the piston slap. Conventional Penzzoil 5w-30 and 10w-30 make it moderately quieter however. As far as GM ever doing something about the problem, it'll never happen. You could complain to the dealer and GM for as long as you want, they won't budge without any severe legal action probably. They say it's not damaging your engine, but anyone who has been around or built engines knows that's BS.
Will the Schaffers moly additive #132 negatively affect oil in any way? Also, I've seen discussions here about different types of moly or carrying agents for moly. Does the 132 Schaffers have the "good" or safe type of moly in it? I think I just may order some for my 3.4L and see if it doesn anything. Thanks
Will the Schaffers moly additive #132 negatively affect oil in any way? Also, I've seen discussions here about different types of moly or carrying agents for moly. Does the 132 Schaffers have the "good" or safe type of moly in it? I think I just may order some for my 3.4L and see if it doesn anything. Thanks
Bror Jace has indicated above that the Redline worked. I may try that next time.I have the Delvac 1 in right now.
Patman
Staff member
Drew, the moly that Schaeffer uses is definitely the safe kind! Dragboat posted an oil analysis on here recently and it showed incredibly good numbers with the 132 added to it.
Drew99GT, MolyDTC. Here are a few threads you might find useful:
Schaeffer #132 Moly E.P. Additive
Using a moly additive:revisited
Question about properties of Moly DTC
David
[ January 13, 2003, 11:33 AM: Message edited by: OneQuartLow ]
Schaeffer #132 Moly E.P. Additive
Using a moly additive:revisited
Question about properties of Moly DTC
David
[ January 13, 2003, 11:33 AM: Message edited by: OneQuartLow ]
I just got an email from a buddy of mine. He had used Mobil 1 in his Honda Civics for years, as I had, and as a result the cars are now extremely loud in cold weather at initial start-up. Classic piston slap.
He also had another car which was leaking/consuming oil and on my advice tried Valvoline Max-Life. This was about a year and a half to two years ago. He liked what the Max-Life did to that one car so much that he switched ALL his cars over to it. Instantly, all the cars became much quieter during the winter. He was sold on the stuff.
About a year ago, he had just stocked up with a few cases of Valvoline Max-Life when I had heard that the good folks at Valvoline had removed the moly from their Max-Life formula and passed along the info. Oh well, we weren’t sure that the stock he had bought was one of the “new & improved” batches or not.
Anyway, winter had rolled around again and he was back to complaining about how loud the cars were on morning start-up. Sure enough, he got some of the sucky new batches of Max-Life.
Then I told him that Pennzoil’s high-mileage formula was only $0.05-$0.10 more than the disappointing ValueLean Half-Life and (at last report) had some moly in it. Well, evidently he took my advice and he just e-mailed me this morning:
”Bror, well, there are about 900 miles on the Pennzoil High-Mileage stuff that’s in my wife’s Civic now. Man, what a difference! It sure does quiet down the piston slap when the thing is cold. I barely heard it yesterday driving from an overnight cold engine. So I guess I'll keep using that stuff until they change their formulation ... yeesh. In any case, good call, thanks!”
Hey Johnny, you might want to forward this around to the guys at the office. Looks like you showed up those Ashland folks Reeeal goood!
--- Bror Jace
He also had another car which was leaking/consuming oil and on my advice tried Valvoline Max-Life. This was about a year and a half to two years ago. He liked what the Max-Life did to that one car so much that he switched ALL his cars over to it. Instantly, all the cars became much quieter during the winter. He was sold on the stuff.
About a year ago, he had just stocked up with a few cases of Valvoline Max-Life when I had heard that the good folks at Valvoline had removed the moly from their Max-Life formula and passed along the info. Oh well, we weren’t sure that the stock he had bought was one of the “new & improved” batches or not.
Then I told him that Pennzoil’s high-mileage formula was only $0.05-$0.10 more than the disappointing ValueLean Half-Life and (at last report) had some moly in it. Well, evidently he took my advice and he just e-mailed me this morning:
”Bror, well, there are about 900 miles on the Pennzoil High-Mileage stuff that’s in my wife’s Civic now. Man, what a difference! It sure does quiet down the piston slap when the thing is cold. I barely heard it yesterday driving from an overnight cold engine. So I guess I'll keep using that stuff until they change their formulation ... yeesh. In any case, good call, thanks!”
Hey Johnny, you might want to forward this around to the guys at the office. Looks like you showed up those Ashland folks Reeeal goood!
--- Bror Jace
The piston slap in my F-150 was noticeably quieter when I was running Valvoline Maxlife. I actually go away form using it after reading some posts here regarding it's additives or now the lack thereof. The Maxlife 5w30 seemed to be thicker than the Motorcraft 5w30. Now it is back to the way it has been since I got it. Never had changed much except when I ran the Valvoline. If I just wanted to run thicker oil I would just put 10w40 in it. But is there something I was missing with the Maxlife???
seldont, Max-Life's claim to fame was a fairly healthy dose of molybdenum (which kind? No one here is sure) along with a ester blended into its base oil. The moly is an anti-wear additive and the ester is supposed to condition older seals and stop/prevent minor leaks.
It seems the moly does a fair job of quieting down piston slap ...
... but about a year ago, Valvoline took the moly out of Max-Life. This, at a time when Mobil added it to their Mobil 1, Castrol added it to their GTX and Pennzoil added it to most of their formulas.
I used to recommend Max-Life to people. I don't anymore. Use the Pennzoil stuff instead.
--- Bror Jace
It seems the moly does a fair job of quieting down piston slap ...
... but about a year ago, Valvoline took the moly out of Max-Life. This, at a time when Mobil added it to their Mobil 1, Castrol added it to their GTX and Pennzoil added it to most of their formulas.
I used to recommend Max-Life to people. I don't anymore. Use the Pennzoil stuff instead.
--- Bror Jace
Guess I may try the Pennzoil. Been using the 5w30 Motorcraft. Does the Pennzoil have particular advantages?? I have 6 qts on the shelf. Got it at Wallyworld on sale recently.
Pennzoil starts with a superior Group II+ base oil. Not all other brands of oil have stepped up to this more highly processed version of mineral oil. Some are still using Group II or even I.
--- Bror Jace
--- Bror Jace
Going to add to the list. If you got to the GM-Trucks.com page and look up piston slap you can get an ear full of the 5.3 and 6.0 engines that have that problem. Luckly, (keeping fingers crossed) I have an 02 with the 5.3 and no noise, running the series 2k 0w-30 Amsoil and filters. There was rumor runing around the GM was offering new short blocks but then that seems to be a rumor. I'm just glad I don't have the noise.
Another F-150 owner here, except I have two, neither with piston slap, but they are both Romeo 4.6l engines, which seem to have a MUCH lower rate of slap versus the Windsor Engines. In any event, other folks here who have the slap that I know of have tried a variey of oils, and none have seemed to make much of a difference. It still slaps on cold starts for about 30 seconds, and then its gone for the day. One in the group is over 200k (work truck) and still runs like a top! Oh well...
This partly answers my question. "Do they just make noise or are there durability issues?" If the engines hold up long term is it even something that's worth worrying about...
Understanding the problem is the key to not worrying too much about it. The 3.1 and 3.4 actually have TWO clearance related noise problems: piston slap and wrist pins. It's never a good idea to push an engine hard when it's cold, and it's vitally important not to do that with these engines. But even in some 3.1s and 3.4s, the wrist pin and piston clearance problems can be so severe that the noise doesn't go away when the engine reaches operating temp. On conventional oil, mine still had a little "rattle" even when fully warmed up, but on Mobil 1 (and Shell Rotella T Syn), there is no discernable noise from either source except when it's first started in cold weather.
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