your cam chain tensioner is going bad.

 

Would that cause the car to misfire at all.

 

nope.

 

I was thinking something along the lines of a bad SAIP, no?

 

I hear this every morning when it's cold as well!! I always thought it was the fan starting abruptly, it kinda sounds like the noise that happens when you put a piece of paper in front of a ocilating fan - "clicky". It only lasts for the first SECOND of starting, then goes away. CCT? It was changed about 20,000 miles ago. 2001.5 V6 @91,000

 

I've heard it on cold starts in my V6 since it was brand new. The dealership even diagnosed it as normal ("we've gotten a lot of questions about it") back in 1999. It's only for the first second or two, though.

Never gotten any better or worse over 110k miles; it just is.

 

I've heard it on cold starts in my V6 since it was brand new. The dealership even diagnosed it as normal ("we've gotten a lot of questions about it") back in 1999. It's only for the first second or two, though.

Never gotten any better or worse over 110k miles; it just is.

Glad to hear that, I have 91K on my 03 V6 and it has the same rattly sound for the first 1-2 seconds, only when cold, first start of the day.

 

That's the sound valves make when they have no oil. Maybe you could try using some thinner oil in the winter. I've switched to 0w40 and i notice a big difference in how fast the oil gets going and warms up.

 

If it's me you're directing this at, I'm in California and the cold start is at 60 F, so not really cold. I use Castrol GTX 5W40 and can't see that reducing the oil viscosity to 0W40 will change much, if anything would be noisier as whatever hydraulic item contributing to that noise would lose it's prime moreso.
My engine (ATQ) as I understand has an overhead cam with cam followers as opposed to hydraulic lifters and therefore should not be the cause of the noise. I think the noise maybe from the CCT as it is hydraulically tensioned and may make that tinny, rattly sound on initial start up. Over the long haul I don't see this as being a huge problem.
Maybe someone who has more knowledge about this V6 ATQ can pipe up and give an opinion.

 

I wonder if this is a sound I have too. I had changed my cam chain tensioner to try to help it, but it wasn't that. It goes away for me by the time I have driven the car down the street, so I don't think so much of it. But I'm wondering if it's going to give me trouble later.

The rate and pitch of the sound increases with the rpms. Is this what everybody's experiencing?

 

Success in obtaining advice can be gained by indicating which engine you have.
CCT noise at startup is fairly common for the 1.8T

 

I have a 1998 1.8T. From what I could tell from the VIN, it was made in Germany and was made in the first half of the runs. The noise started at around 96k miles. I chained the cam chain tension about 1k miles later. It didn't help with the noise. I opened the hood and would play with the cruise control rod to open the throttle, and I'd hear a noise along the left side, middle depth of the engine compartment--from the perspective of facing the front of the car. Sure, the tensioner is over that ways but it is covered and all. It surprises me that I'd hear such a high frequency, almost like a chirp. Maybe this is a different noise I have.