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My Saturn just started recently making a knocking noise during a cold start. It only happened about three times last week when the temperatures were probably in the 50’s. It hasn’t done it since. I checked with the guys on ion forums and they said it could be that my anti drain back valve isn’t functioning or the spring that pushes down my filter since it’s a cartridge filter, might be crushed. I check the filter and there doesn’t seem to be any problems with it. Another person said the timing belt tensioner, but if it was that wouldn’t the knock be happening all the time? The knock only happened when the ei started the engine in the morning and would go away after like 2 minutes of warming up. I’m not sure where to go from here, I want to know of any serious damage is being done on the engine internals.
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Welcome to the forums ! How many miles are on the car ? what is the condition of the oil ? is the level proper and how many miles since the last oil change ? I would start with a fresh oil change ( make sure to use the recommended viscosity ) then I would have an oil pressure test done to see if it is within specs. you may need to start the car with the hood up then listen around the engine compartment with a long screwdriver or mechanics stethascope and try and isolate the area of the noise. keep us posted.
I owned once a renault encore and that same noise started to happen… i drove with it, but the problem was a connecting rod.
Quoted From 619DioFan:
Welcome to the forums ! How many miles are on the car ? what is the condition of the oil ? is the level proper and how many miles since the last oil change ? I would start with a fresh oil change ( make sure to use the recommended viscosity ) then I would have an oil pressure test done to see if it is within specs. you may need to start the car with the hood up then listen around the engine compartment with a long screwdriver or mechanics stethascope and try and isolate the area of the noise. keep us posted.
Thank you! I have 88,000 miles on the car and only 1,000 on the full synthetic oil. When the problem was happening I found the knocking to be coming around where the timing chain is and around piston 1, although if it was the timing chain tensioner wouldn’t the knock be happening all the time? And same with a connecting rod?
Quoted From college man:
are you using the cars recommended oil weight and viscosity?C8-)
Yes of course! I always make sure to use the right oil for my car.
by another brand oil filter. spin it off and spin the new one on. run the car. top off the oil. see if the problem
goes away.C8-)Quoted From college man:
by another brand oil filter. spin it off and spin the new one on. run the car. top off the oil. see if the problem
goes away.C8-)That was my first plan! Haha now that I think about it, when I checked my oil it was slightly over the max line. Would this be a problem?
over filled oil is never good.If your asking if the slight over fill is creating the noise. I would say no.C8-)
If you decide to buy a new filter, i would highly recommend a good brand filter such as Mobil 1 or even a Wix.
The next time you do a cold start, i would try to use a mechanics stethoscope and see if you can pin point the noise. Also a mechanical oil pressure gauge may be your friend here.
Quoted From dreamer2355:
If you decide to buy a new filter, i would highly recommend a good brand filter such as Mobil 1 or even a Wix.
The next time you do a cold start, i would try to use a mechanics stethoscope and see if you can pin point the noise. Also a mechanical oil pressure gauge may be your friend here.
I was looking at a k&n high performance filter, would that be okay?
This is an Ecotec engine so it has a cartridge oil filter, not a spin on canister filter. There is no such thing as a high performance filter for these engines just overpriced hype to bilk you out of more money. Other than the US made filters no one knows who makes the filter but just where they are made. The best filters are the AC Delco at Advance Auto (not from the dealer) made by Hengst USA, with the Purolator US filters next best and Champion Labs US filters below those. Foreign wise best to worst is from Western Europe(very rare), Poland (very nice but hard to find) , Korea (okay), Bulgaria (junk) and China (take a guess).
Note that there have been several different oil filter caps since the Ecotec was introduced. A replacement AC Delco cap is $16 at the dealer ($8 at Rock Auto) and includes the o ring and a new Hengst USA filter (shelf stock filter seems to be the cheapest bid of the week like many auto store filters) as well.
Keep in mind that the oil level will read differently because oil will drain out of the oil filter housing back into the oil pan after a while. Sitting over night the engine should read at Max and hot it will read a notch or two low so do not add oil. Ecotecs rarely use oil so but do not have an oil level warning sensor so do check the levels.
Some synthetic oils will cause noise issues that simply do not occur with other oils. Mobil 1 is bad about this problem on some Ecotecs and will cause noises that point to a weak timing chain tensioner. Changing oils can fix these noise problems.
Quoted From killman:
This is an Ecotec engine so it has a cartridge oil filter, not a spin on canister filter. There is no such thing as a high performance filter for these engines just overpriced hype to bilk you out of more money. Other than the US made filters no one knows who makes the filter but just where they are made. The best filters are the AC Delco at Advance Auto (not from the dealer) made by Hengst USA, with the Purolator US filters next best and Champion Labs US filters below those. Foreign wise best to worst is from Western Europe(very rare), Poland (very nice but hard to find) , Korea (okay), Bulgaria (junk) and China (take a guess).
Note that there have been several different oil filter caps since the Ecotec was introduced. A replacement AC Delco cap is $16 at the dealer ($8 at Rock Auto) and includes the o ring and a new Hengst USA filter (shelf stock filter seems to be the cheapest bid of the week like many auto store filters) as well.
Keep in mind that the oil level will read differently because oil will drain out of the oil filter housing back into the oil pan after a while. Sitting over night the engine should read at Max and hot it will read a notch or two low so do not add oil. Ecotecs rarely use oil so but do not have an oil level warning sensor so do check the levels.
Some synthetic oils will cause noise issues that simply do not occur with other oils. Mobil 1 is bad about this problem on some Ecotecs and will cause noises that point to a weak timing chain tensioner. Changing oils can fix these noise problems.
Excellent post. Also, have you always run synthetic oil? Or did you recently change over? If it was a recent change, I would go back to regular oil, as synthetics on an engine with some miles on it can cause seals to start leaking.
Quoted From killman:
This is an Ecotec engine so it has a cartridge oil filter, not a spin on canister filter. There is no such thing as a high performance filter for these engines just overpriced hype to bilk you out of more money. Other than the US made filters no one knows who makes the filter but just where they are made. The best filters are the AC Delco at Advance Auto (not from the dealer) made by Hengst USA, with the Purolator US filters next best and Champion Labs US filters below those. Foreign wise best to worst is from Western Europe(very rare), Poland (very nice but hard to find) , Korea (okay), Bulgaria (junk) and China (take a guess).
Note that there have been several different oil filter caps since the Ecotec was introduced. A replacement AC Delco cap is $16 at the dealer ($8 at Rock Auto) and includes the o ring and a new Hengst USA filter (shelf stock filter seems to be the cheapest bid of the week like many auto store filters) as well.
Keep in mind that the oil level will read differently because oil will drain out of the oil filter housing back into the oil pan after a while. Sitting over night the engine should read at Max and hot it will read a notch or two low so do not add oil. Ecotecs rarely use oil so but do not have an oil level warning sensor so do check the levels.
Some synthetic oils will cause noise issues that simply do not occur with other oils. Mobil 1 is bad about this problem on some Ecotecs and will cause noises that point to a weak timing chain tensioner. Changing oils can fix these noise problems.
Can you share your information you are providing about the quality of the cartridge filters?
I am really into these types of ‘details’ and would love to see some UOA, micron filtration and testing results of those said filters C8-)
I did not realize it was a cartridge filter. my suggestion still stands on trying another cartridge filter.
Has this start up noise always been there or is this new?C8-) what weight and viscosity are you using?
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