kimeran

Good day guys

Need some assistance here.
Only on cold start, I hear a rattling sound coming from the engine.
Once the engine is at optimum temperature, the noise is gone.

Is this normal or something to worry about?
Car is still under motorplan, so if it is an issue then I will send it off to Merc.

Thanx a mill

steven_hy_su

actually had the exact same thing. Noise only on cold cold start ups, gone when idle settles and regular or hard driving. Doesn't come from the engnie for me, more like mid-pipes. Thought it was a bad weld job or hole in the x-pipe/cat delete. Took it in and examined the underbody. Nothing loose nothing pierced. Could just be metal on metal contact due to the hard shaking of everything on a cold start up.

Vash

If it's a mild "tick-tick-tick...", then it's the lifters. Use 5w40, not 0w40.

If its a "wub-wub-wub...", or a "kakaah-kakaah...", then I can't help you.

m a x i m u s

haha, that's some pretty specific noise references!

johnnyblaze

If it's wub-wub-wub thats pretty awesome. DJ M156 on the turntables.

Merc63

Cam adjusters

roadtalontsi

steven_hy_su

to be clear for me it was a distinct rattle between metal, no clicks or ticking, again mine from the midpipe area - sorry op

C63DaKine

what if it goes..."ka ka ka ka kaw..."

do we then say... "what the fox say?!"

kimeran

Hahahaha you guys
It is a ticking type of noise, once you give it a slight rev, the intervals between the tapping gets quicker

nkc

what oil do u use ?

kimeran

Absolutely no clue to be honest.
Car gets serviced at Mercedes Benz here in South Africa, so don't know what oil they use.

jvanbrecht

Where in SA (just curious)

As for ticking, this is a common issue with the lifters, should go away once oil and engine is up to temp.

kimeran

Yeah it does, but hate to hear that noise! Any remedy? I've been told to put Liqui Moly Ceratec with clean oil to eliminate the noise, so will try that soon

mr747

Drive it every day and you won't get tapping

rage2

This. The tapping only comes up if you don't drive your car for a long period of time.

It's not just temps. I store my cars for 6 months a year, and it always makes the noise on startup after such a long period of time without any run time. If you sit and idle it, it'll just tap away even at warm temps. You need to drive it a little, to get some real oil pressure into the system to get rid of the tapping. Typically, I fire up the car, let the idle drop to <1000rpm, then just drive at 20% throttle. Takes a block or 2 for the sound to go away.

I've owned 4 cars with the M156 and they all do this after not driving them for several weeks.

m a x i m u s

interesting that mine has started tapping recently, both times after sitting for about 8 hours during my work day. it happened this past friday and then again the previous week. both times the tapping/ticking went away after the engine got up to temp. i know someones here said it is normal, but is it really? this hasnt happened for 50k miles, but now has happend once a week for the past two weeks. and i use mobil 1 5w30, oil level is good as well.

CarHopper

^ You should use the 0w40 euro blend.

Merc63

If your engine rattles on cold starts, it's usually cam adjusters.

m a x i m u s

yeah, I know...you actually told me this a couple of years ago, and i did have to have 2 cam adjusters replaced. this particular sound is the tick tick ticking, though, not the cam shaft rattle. although, I will say that the very first time I noticed the ticking sound, which was last week, I did get a brief cam shafty rattle (hasn't rattled since though).

m a x i m u s

I thought we were supposed to use 5w40 and NOT 0w40.