Anyone who is up in the New England area might know of the frigid temperatures we have been experiencing... I've got an 03 Spec, lately I've noticed that in addition to my engine idling at a high rpm until it gets to temperature it has also started to sound uncharicteristically dirty. Its not a clean smooth idle as it has been almost like its got a rattle deep down that makes it sound not so nice. I got up close to the grill and heard it it sounds like its just behind the radiator somewhere and it just sounds shitty all there is to say. It revs fine it runs fine, I've noticed no decrease in performance and lately I have been starting and letting it sit for 20 min or so usually with the defrost on so that when I drive my engine temp is pretty good. Could I have screwed up that fan running it in such cold weather without the engine being warm first. Let me know if anyone has experienced this before or perhaps if its just a cold thing???
if your engine is cold, there should be no reason for the fan to kick in. it should only operate when your engine is at operatiing temp. are you sure its not the disributor caps firing? they sound like series of clicks that can sound like rattling, and you should have had this all the time. open up the hood when its in idle and see if there is anything blatantly wrong. i used to live in Maryland and had my Spec-V there as well, i didnt have any problems during the winter, save for my tranny being sticky. you shouldnt have to warm up the car for 20min, i dunno what kind of gas money you have but 20min sounds a little long, 5 min should do. and ehwn you warm up your car, dont turn the defrost winshield on, it draws heat from the engine you are trying to warm. post back after you have a closer look, does it go away after it warms up?
It's been as cold as -15F here in upstate NY. As a matter of fact, tomorrow may not get above ZERO.
Anyway, car always starts (although my Hondas fired up quicker in similar weather) but the engine is a tad noisy. No big deal.
I don't let my car warm up much. I just drive it easy for the first 2-3 miles. I shift slow and am easy on the throttle until the car is well warmed up. Excessive idling is likely to merely fuel-foul your oil.
I think I detect a bit of cold noise often considered "piston slap" in my Sentra on days 40F and colder. This sounds like a knocking noise which slowly goes away as the engine warms up ... 3 to 5 minutes, usually. By the time I got rid of my Civic, it had it real bad.
However, the use of an engine oil with moly seems to quite this down a great deal. I'm using Red Line 5W30 right now. Most oils have some moly in them these days (Pennzoil, Chevron, Schaeffer, Mobil 1, etc ...) but Red Line has the most.
If the car starts, and you are already using a 0W30, 5W30 oil, I wouldn't worry about it.
The reason for the excessive warm up time (8-15) on average is because im only driving about 2 and a half miles to work. Currently i use mobil one for my oil. im going to check it out tomorrow when i get around to starting it up. I wasnt worried about it from the get go.. as i said i havent noticed any decrease in performance my mpg is steady as ever also. I was just really wondering if it was just a "really F'ing cold" problem which it is appearing to be...
The reason for the excessive warm up time (8-15) on average is because im only driving about 2 and a half miles to work. Currently i use mobil one for my oil. im going to check it out tomorrow when i get around to starting it up. I wasnt worried about it from the get go.. as i said i havent noticed any decrease in performance my mpg is steady as ever also. I was just really wondering if it was just a "really F'ing cold" problem which it is appearing to be...
It's not as cold here in IN but I have noticed about a 500 RPM increase in my idle since it's gotten colder. My 03 spec usually idles around 600 RPM and now it's up to 1100. Weird. Still runs fine just idles higher.
lol move to florida its 73 right now and its night time
Damn you! . I just keep dreaming about the summer so I can actually use my sunroof and turn up my headunit and drive around with the windows down. Ahhhh. I hate winter.
Fallz, there have also been reports that engines are noticeably louder using Mobil 1 in cold weather. I know my Honda Civic and the Civic of a buddy of mine were unbearably loud using M1. Even some cheap oils such as Valvoline Max-Life (original formula only) as well as Pennzoil High Mileage Vehicle and red Line were much, much quieter,
At first I thought it was a lack of moly in M1's formula ... but even when they added moly in the M1 SuperSyn formula, engines using this still seem on the loud side ... especially in the extreme cold.
However, this is not proof of trouble or additional wear taking place.
Others think it is simply because Mobil 1 is formulated on the thin side for each given weight. Some related discussion:
yeah, synthetc oils arnt exactly winter friendly, they are abit thinner. dont worry about it, its a nissan, it'll last you a good ten years without any problems. i miss the winter, i miss the snow, i miss tempratures that have a bite to them. the Texas 50-60-70 ish winter weather is just plain lame. ;l
yeah, synthetc oils arnt exactly winter friendly, they are abit thinner. dont worry about it, its a nissan, it'll last you a good ten years without any problems. i miss the winter, i miss the snow, i miss tempratures that have a bite to them. the Texas 50-60-70 ish winter weather is just plain lame. ;l
It hasnt been this cold up here for this long for a while anyway, from what i hear when it does snow in TX the whole area just shuts down... ill be sure to send some of the snow your way and by the way since its actually around freezing point the noise i have heard has quited down quite a bit.. i suspect that the cold weather made things quiet so that i noticed the engine noise a bit louder than usual seems to have worked itself out now things are rollin along just fine
. I just keep dreaming about the summer so I can actually use my sunroof and turn up my headunit and drive around with the windows down. Ahhhh. I hate winter.
Linear Mode
