Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting chattering/grinding valvetrain

Just within the last couple days I noticed my 274 800km V6 making some intermittent griding/chattering noises from the valvetrain on the front bank.

Upon start up,it's quiet,but shortly after it starts idling,you'll hear a "grind grind grind" for about 5 seconds and then it stops and idles quietly again for about 15 seconds or so and does it again. I also noticed this condition after pulling out of the parking lot at work this morning,while driving slowly,you could hear it chattering away,even under light acceleration.

I use regular 10W30 oil and added some Slick 50 that my dad had sitting around on Saturday. Adding the Slick 50 made the car feel smoother and run smoother,but didn't eliminate the grinding/chattering. When I am due for my next oil change in 2000km,perhaps I should try that high milage stuff? A friend of mine had knocking valves in his 240SX and used that stuff and said it took the knocking away.

Maybe it's something else? The car runs fine,it's just noisy. I don't know what my oil pressure is like since we don't have oil pressure gauges (how stupid),and it's only coming from the front bank.

Any suggestions...apart from a 3.0L swap?

Interesting as I was just doing some research on a similar problem. My wifes 1998 Mystique with about 110,000 kms on it has recently started to clatter quite loudly for a few minutes on startup. It sounds like it is coming from the valve train. It stops promptly as soon as the fast idle solenoid cuts out. Once it stops the engine is very quite with no mechanical noises. The sound I am hearing is not a grind, but a clatter.
I too would like to hear some suggestions as to what this could be.
This engine is running on a full synthetic oil.
Does this engine have a non return valve to stop the oil draining down from the upper part of the engne? I was wondering if there is a problem with the oil taking time to properly lubricate the valve train after sitting all night.
I did make sure that the A/C was shut off just in case it was something from that area.

This is the first time with any of my cars I have had a noise like that. The clatter you hear to me sounds like poorly lubricated valves,being metal on metal contact.That's what I would suspect. Mine is like a grinding noise. The best way I can describe is is as if someone has a pepper grinder and is turning it to grind the pepper.

I wonder if this is similar to the 95 V6 start up sound.

http://www.contour.org/FAQ/tsb/content/97-2-8.html

Note it is purely "cosmetic" according to our common problems section.

http://www.contour.org/FAQ/FAQ.php?s=probs&displayid=18

That could be it,but my sound is more of a grinding than a clatter. It is coming from right inside the cyl head directly under the UIM. At first I thought it was the accessory pulleys grinding (on the driver's side,by the intake) so I sprayed them with WD40 and then I listened more carefully and heard it from the head.

So it 'shouldn't' be causing any damage,it just sounds like it is? lol I've had the car about 3 months and 2 days ago was the first time I ever heard it do that.

You should pull the cam cover and have a look. It sounds like you have some abnormal valvetrain noise. Look especially hard the the cam followers.