Piston slap question

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Mar 24, 2005 | 08:38 PM

David426

Thread Starter

Safety Car

Joined: Oct 2004

Posts: 4,816

Likes: 132

From: Plano TX

Piston slap question

I have an early 99 which has 43000 miles and have owned since October. I noticed a knocking sound today(like a diesel engine)when it was idling in my garage during warm up. The sound started when the engine temp was at about 130 degrees and went away when the temp was at about 180. I've never noticed this before and I guess because it was in my garage and I was there the whole time it was easily heard. especially when I put my ear under the front wheel well. Is this the famous piston slap? Should I do something about it since I have 19 months on the warranty. Leave it alone? Does it come and go? Or get worse? Could it be something other than piston slap?

Mar 24, 2005 | 08:41 PM

C5-JIM

Pro

Joined: Jan 2000

Posts: 652

Likes: 3

From: Salisbury MD.

You are 100 % correct. It is something you live with.
JIM

Mar 24, 2005 | 09:23 PM

Cobras_Rule

Intermediate

Joined: Mar 2005

Posts: 30

Likes: 0

does it cause any problems in the future?
what exactly is piston slap? (newbie, and im a ford guy)
=]

Mar 24, 2005 | 09:31 PM

PaPaChoc

Racer

Joined: Nov 2004

Posts: 288

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Quote:

Originally Posted by David426

The first time I heard mine was when it was cold like 40Deg. It does it till the temp gets up to around 100, and then it quiets down! Dealer says “Not a problem”
My 01 has 53,000 on it and I guess we’ll see!

Mar 24, 2005 | 09:57 PM

jrizzuto

Pro

Joined: Feb 2005

Posts: 725

Likes: 87

From: East Northport NY

I have the same, as do many others. I saw on another post, maybe another site, where the guy replaced his lifters, pushrods, valvesprings - the works...and its gone. I imagine these rocker arms are the self-adjusting type so we can't adjust lash. Or can we...I'll leave that to the experts (which I am not !!).

But what I am trying to say is how do we know it is piston slap, or genuine lifter noise? They kinda sound the same, right?

Mar 24, 2005 | 10:04 PM

Dave68

Race Director

Joined: Dec 2000

Posts: 19,304

Likes: 85

From: San Diego CA

What oil filter do you use? Some filters are more restrictive than others and tend to aggravate the piston slap noise. Try a K&N (as I did); I'll bet it quiets down noticably.

Mar 24, 2005 | 10:07 PM

Mr. Lucky

Melting Slicks

Joined: Jun 2004

Posts: 3,439

Likes: 6

From: Newark, DE

St. Jude Donor '06

It's also possible that this could just be normal valvetrain noise, caused by the superb filtering (but low flowing) oem oil filter. Many people (myself included) have been able to reduce or completely eliminate the noise by switching to a higher flowing filter like K&N or Baldwin. I use the Baldwin B31 exclusively.