Piston slap question
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?
Racer
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 288
Likes: 0
Originally Posted by David426
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?
My 01 has 53,000 on it and I guess we’ll see!
Pro
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 725
Likes: 89
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?
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?
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. 
Edit: Great minds think alike, Dave. You just type faster!
Edit: Great minds think alike, Dave. You just type faster!
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