brooks944

My new to me '05 Boxster S has sat in the garage since Christmas. When I started it today there was a knocking and ticking. Is this common for a car that's sat for a while? I drove it around the block and didn't notice anything when I parked it. I've had it since the first of the month and haven't let it sit this long.

Any input is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Rick

Macster

As long as the noise is of short duration and not accompanied by other symptoms like rough running, up and down idle speed, CEL (with error codes) the noise you heard is *probably* normal.

The oil drains away from various locations and is forced out of some other locations and the engine can be a bit clattering upon its next start.

What I have found has some bearing (uh, no pun) on how noisy my car is upon cold start is the freshness of the oil. Oil with lots of miles, or lots of short trips and therefore (most likely) diluted with water and unburned gasoline (byproducts of combustion), results in a noisier engine than oil that has fewer miles or fewer shorter trips.

So the questions are: How fresh is the oil? Is the right oil in the engine? If you don't know the answer to these questions my advice would be to have the engine oil/filter service done and of course use an approved oil.

If the noise is present frequently it could be a sign something's amiss but it would take some serious investigation by a qualified tech to determine what is amiss.

I mean a zero lash lifter can fail or a cam chain tensioner or even a cam chain guide rail can fail and any one of these can result in a noisy engine at almost any engine start. In some cases the engine will be noisy even after the start but not always.

Other causes can be a loose (or damaged) spark plug or an exhaust leak due to a bad exhaust system seal/fitting or a crack in an exhaust pipe.

Sincerely,

Macster.

brooks944

Thanks Macster for the reply. I just checked the oil level, it's fine. The car has 75K miles and the last oil change was 7/7/11 (2K miles ago) at Jim Ellis Porsche in Atlanta, so I'm pretty sure they used the right oil. There are no leaks at all from this car (it's been probably 10 years without a "leaky Porsche" of one kind or another in the garage!). After I made sure the oil level was OK, I re-started the car and no noise, except for the normal (which is great...). This was in an enclosed garage so I believe I would have heard if it happened again. I have had the car on multiple short trips of ~10 miles, but most are 10 - 50. Do you think it's just from sitting for the 4 days? The last trip on Christmas was 40 or so miles one way, although I did start it a couple of times for very little time (1 - 2 minutes) while I changed the key remote from one key to another. Perhaps that caused it? It will probably sit for longer when bad weather gets to TN.

Again, thanks for the helpful reply, that's why Rennlist is so great!
Rick

Macster

Well, the enclosed garage will really make the engine noise more noticable. And if the weather is colder where you are this works to make cars more noisy than they would be in warmer temperatures.

Even though my cars sit sometimes just 12 hours (overnight from 9pm at night to 9am in the morning) between being used the engines make some clatter at startup. After 4 days...

(Now that I tihnk about it, my 02 Boxster sat unused and outside (though in a covered parking space) from Dec. 9 to Dec 18 (9 days?) while I was out of town. Upon my return and upon its first start after this time the engine (understandably) made a considerable through brief racket. But the engine very quickly quieted down and that was that.)

It is impossible to say without hearing the noise firsthand, but I'd say what you're hearing is normal.

I'm probably repeating myself, but because often new owners are stressed from hearing any noise from their 'new' car, let me offer my opinion: If the noise is not too severe (what is not or is severe comes from experience and you may not have this), brief, unaccompanied by other symptoms of possible engine distress, and only occurs upon cold start and the engine is quiet and well behaved at other times, then I think the noise is normal.

If you want extra assurance, speak with the service manager at the dealer and arrange to leave the car there for a few days and let a tech start the engine and offer his professional opinion. Chances are you will not be charged anything but ask first.

(On a road trip in my 996 I heard what I thought was wheel bearing noise and called a dealer -- 1500 miles from my home dealer -- and arranged to have my car looked at. The shop foreman took the car out and reported back the noise was from the front tires cupping a bit from a bit of mis-alignment. I asked about having the alignment done -- being 1500 miles from home no way I wanted to burn through a set of tires over that distance -- but I was told the alignment was not out bad enough to justify the expense. When I thanked the service manager for the service and asked for a bill he said there was no charge.)

Sincerely,

Macster.