Do I Need a Valve Adjustment?

[consultant1027]

09 G37X with 43K miles. When cold, the engine noise is pretty loud. I know this is normal since the oil needs to get circulated but it sounds pretty 'rough' like the valves or really loud. This is my first Nissan sedan. The Honda/Acura products I had are not like this. I know the G35/37 are louder engines and exhaust systems in general compared to Honda as there is more emphasis on performance. But wondering if I should demand a valve adjustment on my next oil change as this is something that I can't reproduce as it goes away about 2 minutes after the car is started up. Might be a small exhaust link too but I doubt it. Do these cars just sound loud/rough when they are warming up?

[chris01i30]

Any idea what oil was put in it at the last change?

There is a TSB out (not sure if it applies to your year or not) that is a flash for the ECU to help with the valve-ish noise. Also recommended to use Nissan Ester oil (at 10.00/qt!) to help with the noise. Nissan says there is no harm to the engine, its just....noisy.

The 3.7L is REALLY hard on oil apparently, so its almost a given you want to change every 3750 miles/3 months....synthetic might be able to stretch it out a little more, but for peace of mind Id even change that at 3 months/3750 also.

[consultant1027]

Good to know. I'll look for the TSB. I use Mobile 1 in all my cars always. Using 10W-30 for the G37X.

[consultant1027]

I have not found a TSB involving valve adjustment on the G37.

[chris01i30]

Its not a valve adjustment TSB, it concerns noise from bank 2 VVEL actuator (VVEL is the variable valve timing setup in the 3.7L)

Full TSB here: http://www.infinitig37.com/TSB/1SB34.pdf

[consultant1027]

Yes I saw that one, but it said it was for a 2008 but I guess where I saw it that was a misprint.

Thanks!

[RED_DET]

The g37 is extremely loud on cold start ups and most of the noise you hear is from the exhaust. As it gets warmer it should get noticeably quieter. The loaner g37 I had was extremely loud on cold start in winter and very quiet after it reached operating temps. If you are hearing noises from the engine, I would check the oil level.

[SteveTheTech]

09 G37X with 43K miles. When cold, the engine noise is pretty loud. I know this is normal since the oil needs to get circulated but it sounds pretty 'rough' like the valves or really loud. This is my first Nissan sedan. The Honda/Acura products I had are not like this.

The 3.7 has a very interesting way of warming itself up.
It gets loud and snarly. This is on purpose, if the coolant is really cold (<39F) the engine will run slightly lean to prevent damage to the catalytic converters while getting them up to operating. This is an interesting strategy Nissan has employed on a fairly large displacement engine to lower tailpipe emissions.

The computer oversight is pretty interesting, as soon as the Park signal switches it should go right back to normal immediately.

Next time you warm up the car, put it into any other gear then back to park. What happens?

You might need some new engine control module software but what you are describing sounds pretty much inline with what they all do, especially when they are really cold.

[gwoods]

Try running some Lucas oil additive and see if the noise sounds better? I run it in mine and it helps with oil consumption and a noise that I describe as timing chain slop at cold starts.