It usually isn't valves on an aging QR25, piston slap is more likely. If so, they can do that for a very long time without any other ill effects, provided you keep up with good maintenance. My '04 beater with 160K+ has greeted me with slapping every morning since I got it, but with 3K oil changes, it will probably pass 225K before it gets bad enough to matter.

 

So its not an oil issue?

 

PS - Could be the belt tensioner too, but that's dumb and simple. Get it checked.

 

Not strictly, although stepping to 10W might quiet it down. That goes for most mechanical noises an engine might make. You probably don't want to go thicker than that, the IVT may start throwing codes. If the problem is slap, it happens because of wear in the piston skirts that allow them to "slap" the cylinder walls until the piston warms slightly and expands them into the bore. That's why the noise quickly vanishes after the engine starts and runs.

 

The noise is still there but its low among a 4 cylinders noises and its around the belt/timing chain area is. I have the video but don't know how to put it here.

 

If it's anything on the belt you can prove or disprove it by removing the belt and briefly running it that way. The chains and guides on QR's aren't usually problematic, but that doesn't mean yours couldn't be the exception. We don't see many, but the number isn't zero.

 

Lets pray its not the timing chain the noise has been there since i bought the car and i did over 2k miles so far and besides this annoying engine noise and getting used to cvt the car has been reliable. Won't 10w30 would be thick for the winter?

 

Depends how far north you live. If you want to experiment, the car will tell you if it has a problem with the oil weight. If it throws a P0011 or some other cam code on cold mornings, it's too thick for the climate. Switch back and erase the codes.

 

I'm in northeast where nj is at. Do you use 10w30?

 

I'm in Arkansas, I use 5W in the wife's '13 and 10W in my '04 year round. Grew up in Jersey (Paterson area), unless you have an uglier-than-normal winter I think 10W would probably be okay. Definitely wouldn't go thicker than that. Massachusetts and north I'd say 10W is probably unusable.

 

It gets cold pretty bad during winter sometimes it be in the negative 20 degrees i hope for a little warmer winter. I'll try 10w30 if it breaks my engine ill find you lol just kidding.

 

It won't break anything. Like I said, the car will tell you if it has a problem with the oil. P0011 is a "two-trip" code, so if you keep an eye on it with your scanner it will show up as "pending" before the MIL even turns on.

 

Gotcha thanks

 

 

It may not be the engine. WHEN I bought my 09, every engine mount, the transmission mount, the dog bone torque arm, and catalyst flex coupling were all dryrotted and torn. After replacing them all kinds of ticking and banging noises went away. Download the manual so you can find and inspect the mounts.