Hi,

New guy. Have had the S for almost 3 weeks now. Changed the engine, tranny, diff fluid last week before my first autoX event.

It is a MY00 with 42K miles on it.

I noticed while I was testing out the airbox removal mod that the engine especially after a cold start in the garage, with 40 degree temps outside was a bit loud. It got quieter after it warmed it in a minute or so.

The oil I just put in is Amsoil SS 0-30W. the old oil was pretty dark

Here are some vids after it was warmed up. I used my Iphone 4 for recording.


with the phone near horizontally along the engine valve cover


this is with the mic of the phone facing the engine


you can hear it after it came back down from revving

Is this normal?

thanks,
Frank

 

These engines are known to be a little noisy. Also some "stalling" soon after the engine has warmed up coming to stop lights has been reported. It is normal. As far as the engine noise you may try a valve adjustment to quiet it down a bit but you should be fine

 

Something sounds... truckish? In that second vid.

 

i vote NORMALLL

 

+1 for normal and possible valve adj soon

 

The Mics on phones are sensitive to only certain frequencies, so they aren't necessarily true to life.

The sound (adjusting for above) sounds pretty normal. These engines have no balance shaft, and they are not really that quiet.

It does sound like it needs a couple of valves may be out of spec, though. An adjustment takes 2-3 hours your first time, and 1 hour after that. Highly recommend doing it yourself, esp if you're into tracking and the like. There are plenty of DIYs here, and even I pulled it off without wrecking anything.