A great deal of people associate "cold morning starts" with viscosity, but I don't believe this is always true.
Why?
Well, it was about 25-30F here in the morning a few weeks ago, and I'm running Pennzoil Long-Life 15w-40...that's right, 15w-40 in a passenger-car gas engine, and I get absolutely no startup noise!
Usually, unless you're dealing with a "hard part" mechanical issue, you need to look at the oils additive package and the oil filter itself.
You have to remember that on cold startup, not much if any fluid film resides in the top end of the engine, making the additives in the oil provide the protection that is needed. A weak additive package could result in weak protection at startup.
Second, and I've had this problem before...a bad oil filter. I just recently had a filter that I feel had a intermitingly fuctioning anti drainback valve...sometimes, you'd start up the car, and no noise. Next time you'd go out, and you'd have the dreaded "tick-tick-tick" for awhile. Switched to a different filter with the same oil and have had no noise issues at all.
You know how the last oil peformed with a K&N filter, so I'd first suggest switching back to this filter, as to give you a "baseline" comparison between the two oils. If the noise still remains, I'd strongly suggest switching to a different oil that can offer the barrier/boundary lube additive package you need to provide the protection you need on cold starts.
[ February 17, 2004, 12:06 PM: Message edited by: Jelly ]
