Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting How to make this horible cold start noise go away?

how do you adjust it on a 4cyl..?, i have the belt slap problem...

thanks,

Make sure you have a good oil filter. Start up clatter can be from an oil filter with a weak anti drain back valve. The Motorcraft FL 820S includes a red silicon anti drain back valve to prevent this. If you have not changed the oil filter yet or have been using something with a weak anti drain back valve, try changing the filter before you do anything else.

The 95's had a problem with the cam chain tensioners leaking down. It is possible for a 98 as well, but not as likely since they were redesigned long before then.

my car makes that lovely sound...doesn't care about the weather though...and doesn't do it on every cold start (or first cold start of the day)...sounds really nasty though and i've tried priming the engine with oil before starting...sometimes it seems to help sometimes not

officially, there is a technical service bulletin from ford but i cant find my copy to get the number....i think u can look it up on www.alldata.com and it u cant my bad

I read the bulletin once, and it says the chain just slaps the cover for a second and it does NOT have enough clearance (even with no oil pressure) to allow the chain to jump. For this reason, it is considered a non critical item to replace. Just a nuisance with it's noise. Mine's done it for a couple years or so. If you put on a good filter like NAPA gold or something, it DOES minimize the time lapse and severity of the sound, but it still seems to always exist on mine. I just turn the radio up before I start it (my stereo is wired to work in the crank position on the keyswitch).

it sounds like my timing belt hits the cover only on start ups once it warms up the sound goes away, i just switched to 10w30 mobil 1 syn oil and thats when i noticed it

it sounds like my timing belt hits the cover only on start ups once it warms up the sound goes away, i just switched to 10w30 mobil 1 syn oil and that s when i noticed it

The zetec has a belt not a chain. At 76k you should replace the belt and maybe the belt tensioner, and when you put the cover back on put washers between the cover and block to provide a smidge more clearance.

I got a 4Cyl...

Can you tell me what where it is? (where to stick the allen wrench in)

I am sure it is easy to do, but I get the same problem when I start my car. I hgat cold starts. It getting to be that season again, leave 10 minutes early to jump in my contour and wait until it can idle back to normal without my assistance (using accelerator to not stall car)

But it is fine once I go at an easy pace, no mashing pedals then. It's odd, my transmission sticks a little as if it was low on oil (it isn't) like 1st gear won't shift for about 2 seconds when it is supposed do. But all is fine after the first shift.

I hope I am not ignoring a real issue.

That's not the original belt after 123k is it? The car should idle on it's own no matter what, you should really get on this. Can you do any of the work yourself?

Sounds very much like a worn belt. Haven't head it in Australia on Mondeos (not enough around with high mileage) but on Ford Falcons in Oz (4L 6 cyl in line) with reasonable no. of kilometres on them (over about 120000km = approx 75000mi) they make this characteristic whining noise at start up and until warm. They often make it from off idle as accelerating (auto models) and do it worse when cold.

Dont wait for it to break or you'll be in for a long walk when the belt eventually dies and you overheat the engine (and a costly rebuild).