I bought a new sonata that makes a clicking noise around 1700+ rpm on cold starts that goes away after about 5 minutes when the engine warms up.
I used to have an old mazda 626 that had a lifter problem, and that’s what it sounds like with the sonata although it’s not as loud.
I don’t want to leave the car at the dealership if at all possible, but should I take it in asap or wait a couple weeks to see if it goes away completely?
Oh and the manual says to break in the engine, vary the rpms for the first 1200 miles and try not to keep the engine at any rpm for too long. I’ve been alternating my speed on the highway from 65 to 75 about every few minutes. Is this too excessive or is it better to be safe than sorry?
Congratulations on reading the manual. If more people did that half the problems we read about would disappear.
Vary the speed of the engine every fifteen minutes to half hour. That should be sufficient. The idea is not to run a brand new run engine at a steady speed for hours at a time.
You might spark a road rage incident by speeding up and slowing down every few minutes. Or maybe not, since many people drive that way all the time.
Don’t wait. Go straight back to the dealer under warranty. Whatever is causing the clicking will not fix itself.
Daily driving normally provides enough variation for good break in on today’s engines. You need not obsess about it.
I called the dealership and they said the noise was normal and they hear it on some new cars. It makes the ticking noise when the engine is cold because the oil has to get warm and circulating and everything.
That sort of makes sense since after about 5 minutes everything goes away, but if it’s a warm day outside and the sun’s hitting the car the ticking noise is much less prevalent right when I start the engine and it’s already warm. I’m not sure if the oil flows better because it’s warmer or what.
None Of My 7 Cars Click Because The Engine Is Cold And The Oil Has To Warm Up And Get Circulating.
Make a surprise visit to the dealer and have your salesperson grab the keys to a cold 09 Sonata (with the same engine as your’s) and give a listen.
Regardless, if it still clicks after the break-in period then insist on quieting the sound.
CSA
Is this the V6 or the I4 engine?
l4 engine. I’m kind of gonna be really busy until early july so I won’t really have any days I can leave the car at a dealership for more than a couple days. I’ll need the oil changed by then so I’ll just bring it up then. I’ll take it to a different dealership too.
It was about 43f out last night so if it’s cold again tonight I’ll try to record the noise the engine makes.
Balogna. A few seconds I might “buy”. Five minutes, no way.
Start a few others of the same model on his lot with him there and see if they tick. My money says they won’t.
Post back with the results.
My civic makes a similar noise, kinda like a “tatatata” noise when you first start moving the car after sitting overnight when it’s colder outside. But it usually goes away after a minute once it starts warming up.