'Dry start' - rattle on startup

midnite03

Member
I have about 72k on my P5 now - bought it last fall with about 62k. Since I've had it, it has always made an engine rattling sound - when starting from cold, or anytime it has sat for more than about 3 hours. It's like the oil is all running back into the pan. The noise corresponds with the time it takes for the oil light to go out- only a second or so, but more than on any other car I've had. I.e. it seems to take a while to build oil pressure. The times I have changed the oil there never seems to be a lot held in the filter either. The filter that was on there when I got it was the Mazda dealer one, since then I have used the Fram ToughGuard. I know a lot of people don't like Fram filters, but I have used them on other vehicles w/o such a problem. Do you all get this rattle/'dry start' sound with this 2.0L? I have a Wix filter but haven't got round to trying it yet. By the way, the car has had the recall done (for the VCTS screws or whatever). I am talking about a second or two until the light goes out, accompanied by rattling until the pressure comes up. What would the rattling be? From what I see there are no hydraulic valve lash adjusters. The level is always up on the stick - in fact the car uses essentially no oil and the oil stays clean. Thanks for any input .. !
 
Mine does this as well...for a while I figured it might be VTCS needing to be reprogrammed (there's a TSB for a cold start rattle that is solved with a software upgrade) but the dealer wants $200 for it, so screw that. If you're not using any oil, I would say don't worry about it. The FSDE doesn't have the best oil system ever, and a little rattle at startup isn't unheard of. If you're really concerned about it, I would get under the hood and have someone start it and try to pinpoint where the noise is coming from.

Some quick feedback about your filter choice: All the tests show that Fram filters (even the toughguard) don't filter nearly as much particulate as micronic filters. In my mind it's worth it for the extra couple of bucks...I use Purolater PureOne micronics- they're some of the cheapest micronic filters, and they're rated near the top as far as filtering. Wix are very good too from what I've heard, but I thought they were reasonably expensive.
 
This occurs on every engine when it is started until the oil pressure comes up and things get cushioned. In my Studebaker, I always have to prime the carburetor to get it started. This actually primes the oil system as well so it does not rattle at all.

I've always worried about how fast the RPMs come up when it is dry like that - would love to see the PCM keep the RPMs really low until the oil pressure sensor tells it to ramp up the revs. With newer vehicles, there really would not be a problem with the engine dying.

Another possibility would be an electric oil pump that could prime the system. Could be linked into the starting system that would not allow the starter to turn over until a certain oil pressure was reached.

8 years ago I had a Neon (free - and made over 40 mpg so I could stand it...). It sat one time for two weeks without being started. When I did finally get it started (took a minute or so) it rattled and ran rough for almost five minutes until the lifters were fully pumped up and operating correctly. The motor had 170k miles on it - which is not that bad - I guess.
 
Remove VTCS & +2 on the purolator micronic 6.00 filters & use the 2000 626 one so 4 full quarts will fit. Extra 1/4 quart FTW!
 
My 2002 has been doing this since I got it at 50K miles and I use Mazda filters and Mobile 1 10W-30. At 88K miles, still dosen't use oil. I wouldn't worry.
 
Funny, my p5 just hit 88K also and have been doing the same for awhile now. The mechanic thought it was something to do with the engine but didn't find any issue :)
 

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