Cold Starting

[Guest Paul L]

I appear to have a problem! When I cold start my Galaxy, say first thing in the morning, it sounds like somebody is shaking a bag of spanners under the bonnet!

 

The noise lasts no more than a couple of seconds but is very disconcerting. I also have a 'ticking' noise which sounds like the tappets. This 'ticking' is constant, even when the engine is warm. Are the two connected? I recently changed the oil & filter, attempting to try and quieten the tappets down but to no avail. The car has 76K on the clock and is regularly serviced.

 

Any suggestions?

[johnb80]

If it only does it first thing in the morning, start it up after lunch !

 

Seriously, it sounds like oil pressure being slow to build up, I had a similar problem on a Cosworth Granada, it sounded awful for a couple of seconds and it was caused by the timing chain tensioner not having oil pressure to tension the chain, the chain was rattling on the engine casing. Ford provided a modified tensioner with a non return valve which stopped the oil draining back overnight, I beleive that on many engines a non return valve is incuded in the oil filter, did you fir O/E oil filter ? Does it take time for the oil warning light to go out ?

 

Regards - JB

[Guest Paul L]

A faulty NRV was the first thing I thought of hence the oil & filter change. The filter was purchased from Ford's at a very reasonable

[johnb80]

I think that sounds a good move, loads of the Cosworth Ultima's have had problems with the chain guides breaking up as well as tensioner problems. When they've been ignored because it's only for a couple of seconds at startup several have had catastrophic failures when the cam chain jumps a couple of teeth allowing the pistons to get intimate with the valves. Do it sooner rather than later and keep the revs down.

 

Caio - JB