Hey folks…I got an 03 Altima 3.5se, and I notice a rattling sound whenever I start the engine which goes away in about 2min or when the engine is warm…apparently this is quite common for Altimas as per other Nissan forums…they say it’s the timing chain noise due to the hydraulic oil tensioner building pressure. any of you ever have this problem and what helped? Thanks.
I was gonna say timing chain tensioner. It’s probably reached its life limits so put in a new tensioner.
try a oil flush and fill…make sure the flush is done right…common problem is that sometimes the oil gets low or old or gungy and doesn’t flow as well as it should…
other than that new tensioner
like popcorn said.
any suggestions for products used in an oil flush and fill? thanks for the suggestions !!
^^^ whenever I buy a used car I usually flush the engine and fill it with Conventional oil, then I stage to Synthetic oil after unless it’s a cheap ass car that’s not worth it. It’s also heavily dependent on the condition of the oil in the engine after purchase.
The few times I’ve done a flush I’ve used “Gunk Engine Flush”
It’s a thin liquid. I make sure the oil is up to the correct height it should be at and I pour it into a hot engine. Run without load for up to 15 minutes. No revving, no driving. Just let it sit and idle. Dump it out IMMEDIATELY after you shut down and I make the effort to let it drain for a couple hours. I want absolutely no remnants of what I put in there. Make sure you take off the filter now.
The next step is a little extreme for most, but I buy 8 litres of Conventional oil. 4 litres will be the cheap walmart brand usually. 4 litres in, let it settle without restarting. (You won’t need to put on your filter yet) 15 minutes later I dump and discard that oil. Then I put in a new filter and 4 litres of good Conventional oil, your choice.
I then make the effort to change that oil out to Synthetic a little quicker than a regular oil change. I barely get to 2000KM when I change it out to full Synthetic.
Thanks for the tip…I’ll have to do this…have you heard of Auto RX…I’ve heard nothiing but good things about it. Apparently it’s a slow engine cleaner with a cleaning and rinse phase over about three oil changes.
i also bought brand new nissan altima. after how many months, i started to hear engine rattle during startup. i brought the car to auto mechanic to fix it. few days back, i started hearing the rattle again. please help! what are the possible solutions to this kind of issue?