Low oil pressure/flow during startup only???

[Alpine003]

After I found a couple bolts in my lower oil pan and retightened all the bolts, I've restored the proper oil flow and my ticking has gone away and the coolant temp is back at it's original position. But for some reason, it seems like there is low oil pressure or circulation on startup since the oil light stays on for a couple seconds while it ticks before going away. It's fine after a couple seconds after the initial startup. It's never done this before before this incident and wondering if anyone has any insight to this. I have a couple possible guesses but they are just guesses at this point.

[b318isp]

Sounds like some main bearing/big end wear?

[Alpine003]

Sounds like some main bearing/big end wear?

This was one of my guesses which I'm hope not. I've taken it to 110mph a few times already and it survived that without any hiccups. We shall see...

[e9nine]

What oil weight are you running and what's the current weather temp? Does it do it only when you start it up after is sat overnight?

[pepe m42]

i have this symptom sometimes....almost all the first (siting overnight) start are like this.
i use 5w50 mobil1, before i used casrol 15w40 and it was less noticable with the castrol oil....

i live in spain so the weather is not cold at all.

I have only guesses as well, but it's might be the time to talk about this.

I think if its the bearing shells then the oil light should do a similar symptom with a fully warm engine too. I tried this on a morning: start the car (had the symptom) then after the ticking nois went away i stoped the engine(about 2sec) than wait for about 10-15 min. and start again and the light went RIGHT out and no ticking just like with the warm engine. What i know so far is , if the bearing are bad they should do this symptom nearly every time when you start the engine. Some manual say at idle rpm the light might stay on with worn bearings... but i think that would be very worn bearings.
Anyway i was also thinking if the tensioner doesn't get the oil then it cant operate the hidraulic function, so it need a few sec to get the pressure.
BUT ITS ONLY A GUESS, i would be happy if someone would give me a SHORT EXPLAIN ON TENSIONER hidraulic thing, how does it get the oil? just like any other things like bearings? or it has its function and has nothing to do with oil presuure?

Other guess:also the thin oil might be more able to make its way down to the oil pan, and needs a few sec to get it pumped up.
-with this one im confused because if the oil is thick, then it would be harder to get it pumped up, but with thicker oil i had no ticking noise. so its might be because if the oil is thicker it wont all go down to the pan that esaily....?

other thing i had notice if i park the car facing up hill/down hill the symptoms are changes.
(when i have this type of problems, i do the mistake of thinking of it too much, than it makes me confused. so even if you have some guess, please let me know.)

Also was thinking of worn oil pump, but i have heard that if its working its ok, but if its gonna eat something like a bolt or a piece of metal than we can say its worn:) so i thing its something else....

so Im in the same ship and just tried to give some ideas. i hope we can get this thing solved one day.

what are your other guesses?:confused:

[Alpine003]

What oil weight are you running and what's the current weather temp? Does it do it only when you start it up after is sat overnight?

Only does it when first starting in the morning after sitting overnight. Motor oil is 10w40 Penzoil High Mileage(Not my first choice, I had to borrow from a neighbor). Current Ambient temps have been mid 30's. Like Pepe has said, it only happens when sitting for a long time.

[e9nine]

Only does it when first starting in the morning after sitting overnight. Motor oil is 10w40 Penzoil High Mileage(Not my first choice, I had to borrow from a neighbor). Current Ambient temps have been mid 30's. Like Pepe has said, it only happens when sitting for a long time.

My car did the same. All the m42s I have had did the same with 20w50 that I run in them. They would tick for a while and then stop once warmed. The m42 that had 10w30 didn't do the same. It literally just ticked for a few secs and I always assumed it to be the oil weight. I park the cars facing downhill 95% of the time in the driveway. I never paid close attention to the car reacting differently when pointed uphill.

FWIW. My tick def. sounded like lifter tick.

[Alpine003]

My car did the same. All the m42s I have had did the same with 20w50 that I run in them.

My car before this incident ran like a champ and the oil light went off really fast(probably the same or faster as the other lights) with no noise at all.

This brings up a good point on how many others have this characteristic. hmmm...

[Alpine003]

FWIW. My tick def. sounded like lifter tick.

BTW, do you get lifter tick after a hard run at the autocross on the M42?

[e9nine]

BTW, do you get lifter tick after a hard run at the autocross on the M42?

If I am low on oil yes; otherwise, no. It's so funny to hear all m20/m4x/m5x/s5x bimmers ticking at autocrosses after pulling past the stop gate

[shutter]

hehe, there was an ETA out in front of work at lunch today that had bad lifter tick.  I was tempted to knock on his window and warn him, but the whole thing was kind of a beater so whatever :mad:

I recently switched to my summer oil, which of course is a bit heavier.  I am having a similar experience to what e9ine mentioned.  It seems the lighter oil starts up relatively tick free, the heavier oil has a light tick till it warms up a couple of minutes.  I'm using Mobil 1 synthetic, 76.5k on the clock.  The ambient temps have been erratic though, it was 70F on Tuesday when I did the oil change, it was 32F today when I fired her up.  I'm definitely going to test it again when the ambient temps warm up again in a few days.  I don't drive too much, so I'll probably let her sit till it's warmer out.  I fired her up this AM to test this theory, as well as, start her like I do every couple of days, driving or not =]

Anyways, report back when it warms up again.  That is pretty heavy oil for the near freezing temps we've had the last couple of days.  I'm sure that's it and it will stop after the weekend when we get Spring back!!

[Alpine003]

If I am low on oil yes; otherwise, no. It's so funny to hear all m20/m4x/m5x/s5x bimmers ticking at autocrosses after pulling past the stop gate

Yeah it is funny. I'll never forget when I first autocrossed with my E36 M3 and had ticking noised afterwards. I thought I did some serious damage to the motor and was crapping bricks until other people told me that it was normal.

I am having a similar experience to what e9ine mentioned.  It seems the lighter oil starts up relatively tick free, the heavier oil has a light tick till it warms up a couple of minutes.  I'm using Mobil 1 synthetic, 76.5k on the clock.

I'll have to take a visit sometime before you start your car. As for Mobil 1, I hope your either using 0w40, 15w50, or Truck and SUV formula. Those have the ACEA european rating for longer intervals. I know you won't let your car go for 15k changes but it's nice to know that a lot of the ACEA rated oils tend to keep consistent viscosity over longer term.

BTW, I was running 10w40 dino all winter long even in 0 degree temps. No problem starting and absolutely no tick at all before the incident.

[pepe m42]

BTW: how much oil do you guys put into the engine when changing the oil?
....Just because the manual say 5liter and i was never able to put in more then 4.5liter if i put 5liter, then the deepstick show that its way to much oil in it. is it possible that its because i have lowwered the suspension and this why its just doesn't show the right level on the deepsick?
so how much do you guys put. no problem if you tell me in us quart or in other volume.
5l = 5,283441us quart
thanks

[shutter]

I'd like if you came by one time while I started it.  It's hard because I'm not sure what a healthy M42 should sound like, and you guys have me paranoid all the time.  Especially about my chain

Pepe, for me just under 5 quarts always lands me right where I want to be.  That's with only a small amount left in the 5th quart.

[e9nine]

i always fill up with 5 US qts