what causes lifter clatter on cold starts?

[berge]

99 Quest, 3.3L V6 85000 miles. Just picked it up, has had regular service and runs fine. Vehicle has a clattering noise that lasts for about 2-3 seconds on cold starts in the mornings. Everybody who's listened to it says it's the hydraulic lifters and not to worry about it.

1---what, exactly, causes the lifters to make this noise?
2-is it bothering me more than it's hurting the engine?
3-once autorx is done I'm going to go with a light weight full synthetic and factory filter. other than that and marvel mystery oil, which alot of people seem to like, is there anything else I can do or do I have basically have to live with it? how come some cars do it and some don't. we had a 1989 mazda 929 which did it and a 92 acura legend which doesn't.
(van has 5w30 conventional and mopar filter on it now)
thanks

 

[jthorner]

Hydraulic lifters use motor oil under pressure to take up the slack in the valve train. The lifters will drain down with the engine shut off, and it takes a period of time for them to fully fill back up on restarting. How much this happens depends upon a host of engine variables.

Different oils might change the behaviour slightly, but it is hard to say by how much. For example, a thicker oil might drain down less during shut off, but a thinner oil might repressurize more rapidly on start up.

Bottom line: Don't worry about it!

John

 

[Whimsey]

Also if your oil filter has a weak antidrain back valve(ADBV) it can possibly cause start-up lifter noise. Fram is famous for causing all sorts of ungodly noises upon start-up. I don't know who makes Mopar filters. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Fram. You might want to use either a Nissan or better yet a Motorcraft oil filter. Since that engine was also used in the Mercury Villager, the Quest's twin.

Whimsey

 

[road_rascal]

I used to have a 1990 Dodge Spirit with the Mitsubishi 3.0 V6 that had a lifter rattle from day one and no matter what type of oil or filter I used it never went away. I just let the car idle for 15 seconds and it was fine. My friends son now has it (I think it has about 140,000 miles now) and the engine runs great.

 

[Jim Spahr]

Sometimes the correct oil filter can make a big difference. This is mainly because of the anti drain back feature. Try a stock OEm filter from the manuf. parts department and see if it does. Read more stories in the oil filter section about this noise.

 

[berge]

OEM filter, no lifter noise.

amazing.