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Bad knocking on cold start up.

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Old Nov 29, 2013 | 01:22 PM
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Default Bad knocking on cold start up.

I have a stock 2001 z28 a4 car with 75000 on it. I have only owned the car for about a month never had any odd sounds or problems. Anyway went out and started the car (cold here in pa), it was knocking bad let it run for about 30 seconds shut it off. opened the hood looked around and checked the oil level was good, tried to start it again same thing let it run for a couple seconds and then I shut it off.
Went inside and looked it up thought maybe it could be piston slap, went out tried it again this time the car did not crank at all (tried twice). Third time it started up ran for maybe 5 seconds and shut off by it self. Did not try aain after that. But when it did run, it had great oil pressure.
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Old Nov 29, 2013 | 04:02 PM
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Originally Posted by bigtodd
I have a stock 2001 z28 a4 car with 75000 on it. I have only owned the car for about a month never had any odd sounds or problems. Anyway went out and started the car (cold here in pa), it was knocking bad let it run for about 30 seconds shut it off. opened the hood looked around and checked the oil level was good, tried to start it again same thing let it run for a couple seconds and then I shut it off.
Went inside and looked it up thought maybe it could be piston slap, went out tried it again this time the car did not crank at all (tried twice). Third time it started up ran for maybe 5 seconds and shut off by it self. Did not try aain after that. But when it did run, it had great oil pressure.
video is the only thing thats gonna get people in here to give you a response. with that story it could be anything
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Old Nov 29, 2013 | 04:25 PM
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Probably depends on what kind of care the previous owners took of it. Oil changes etc. Hopefully they didn't sell you the car just in time for something to happen. What weight oil is in it? It is cold this time of year and that's when you can hear piston slap much louder than usual.
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Old Nov 29, 2013 | 07:16 PM
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I will get a video of it tomorrow, I'm going to change the oil and filter since its time and see how that looks. Im going to use m1 5w30, the previous owner used the same. He gave me all the service records since he bought the car in 2007.
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Old Nov 29, 2013 | 07:22 PM
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Cold weather will bring on the piston slap. My A4 has sounded terrible upon starting since it turned cold in KS. But piston slap won't cause a no-start condition or cause the car to die. I doubt you have any oil related issue.

First thing I would do is change the fuel filter, unless you know the previous owner did it recently. It's amazing how many people neglect to do that.
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Old Nov 29, 2013 | 07:59 PM
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It would not crank during the first two times, I would hit it to the start position and nothing. It does have great oil pressure, always above 40 more toward 50.
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Old Nov 29, 2013 | 08:14 PM
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Originally Posted by bigtodd
It would not crank during the first two times, I would hit it to the start position and nothing. It does have great oil pressure, always above 40 more toward 50.
Is it throwing a ses light
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Old Nov 29, 2013 | 08:49 PM
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Not sure I have yet to let the car run long enough, in the morning I will spend some time looking it over just praying it is not bearings.
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Old Nov 29, 2013 | 11:03 PM
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Let it idle awhile. Your going to need to get the oil hot before changing it anyways. If the noise quiets down than you know its def. the piston slap. Maybe try 10W oil instead??
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Old Nov 30, 2013 | 01:26 AM
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Spending time & money on changing oil etc is not going to fix an electrical issue if it won't run, but knocking could be anything, video clip!

Last edited by ls1 1990 VN; Dec 3, 2013 at 12:55 AM.
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Old Nov 30, 2013 | 10:13 AM
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Today is cold low 30's, started it up sounds horrible and stinks really bad. The rpms do not move and don't know if you can hear the metal parts moving banging around in the video.

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Old Nov 30, 2013 | 12:34 PM
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That's def not piston slap. Sounds like spun rod bearing? Id pull valve covers to just look and check if anything doesn't look right and keep working ur way down. Drop ur oil and run it through a magnet to see if you have alot of metal in it.
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Old Nov 30, 2013 | 01:28 PM
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Ah geez that's crappy dude, sucks.
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Old Nov 30, 2013 | 01:48 PM
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That does suck since I only have driven the car maybe 600 miles since owning it. Crazy to think the car drove fine, I parked it then the next time I try and start it has all this going on?
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Old Nov 30, 2013 | 01:53 PM
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Right, pretty odd occurrence indeed. Especially if you test drove it, drove it home, put 600 miles of your own on it and then BAM - pretty shitty luck right there.
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Old Nov 30, 2013 | 02:16 PM
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Now it's blah blah blah from the wife too. really shitty luck lol.
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Old Nov 30, 2013 | 02:35 PM
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So this started on a cold start up, or did it start when you shut the car off after running it for a while?
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Old Nov 30, 2013 | 03:54 PM
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It ran fine last time I drove it not a odd sound at all. Parked it for 3 days went to start it and this happened.
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Old Nov 30, 2013 | 04:00 PM
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I would pull the valve covers and see if you dropped a valve.
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Old Nov 30, 2013 | 09:16 PM
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hate to say it,but that sounds like a rod bearing! drop the oil pan and remove a couple rod caps and you'll find the bad news!
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