Pentastar cold start moan/groan..

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I thought I heard sort of a whistling noise in the first video, is that the noise your referring to? If so, I'm wondering if its the air rushing past the throttle blade. When I had my 08 wrangler ( yes, different engine, I know) at light throttle I would get a whistling noise do to the throttle being at just the right angle. They all did this, it was more pronounced on jeeps with aftermarket intakes and was a common complaint. Do the run coolant through the throttle body on the pentastars? Maybe you have condensation building up in there and freezing overnight, maybe causing the throttle blade to not move to where it should and the air rushing over it is causing the whistling. Plugging your block heater in may have heated the coolant up enough to keep this from happening. I know, its a long shot.
 
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Isn't there a variable displacement oil pump in the pentastars? Perhaps it has some resonances at certain viscosities when the oil is cold?
 
Yes it does have a variable displacement pump. I'm not sure that the block heater would have enough of an effect on the oil temp to make a difference. As I said it did it just under 10C, not sure the oil would be that much warmer.

I did catch it on video when I started it this evening but it was pretty quick. Maybe I'll leave it unplugged tonight and see if I can get a video in the morning.
 
Just a follow up on this. Had the van in today due to a very slight PS pump leak (they have to order/replace pump). When I described the Pentastar cold start noise to the Service Adviser, he was well aware of it. He claimed Chrysler will no longer authorize for troubleshooting or repair of this issue until "they figure out what's causing it".
 
Anybody heard anything new on this issue. Have a brand new 2014 GC 1000 miles and it does the same thing when started cold and it's not even cold out right now .Dont hear it all if the engine is warm . Last usually less than a minute but sounds like garbage while it's happening. To me it seems like it's some type of temporary air induction issue, had the hood open when i started it and I could actually kind of feel it in the air filter housing and hose going to the engine and it eventually goes away after like a minute.Can imagine what this will sound like when it gets cold out. Not a good quality image for Chrysler on a brand new engine that they use in almost every single car they make.
 
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I don't know if this will help or not, but our 4th generation Chrysler minivans would exhibit a very loud groan/whine from the power steering pump unless the power steering fluid reservoir was PLUMB FULL of fluid. You can't stop at indicated full by the marks on the housing...you had to literally top it off to the point of fluid running out of the housing for that system to be quiet.

It also helped to do a turkey baster flush once a year. It seems that the ATF+4 would really break down in those systems.

That may be worth a try on the new ones. Try a fluid exchange and keep the reservoirs overfilled.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I don't know if this will help or not, but our 4th generation Chrysler minivans would exhibit a very loud groan/whine from the power steering pump unless the power steering fluid reservoir was PLUMB FULL of fluid. You can't stop at indicated full by the marks on the housing...you had to literally top it off to the point of fluid running out of the housing for that system to be quiet.

It also helped to do a turkey baster flush once a year. It seems that the ATF+4 would really break down in those systems.

That may be worth a try on the new ones. Try a fluid exchange and keep the reservoirs overfilled.


Yeah had that issue with the 2007 Caravan we traded for the 2014 .Eventually replaced the reservoir and that pretty much fixed that issue .
 
The cold start issue is addressed by TSB 07-002-15 Rev. A . This is for a cold start whine . It involves replacing the idler pulley. It should take them less than a half hour according to the time allowance on the TSB .
 
I have noticed the groan and some piston slap on the Pentastars at work. For some reason, Wranglers are back in style along with Pentastar powered Chrysler minivans - they all have the same groan and piston slap.

Even on cold start in the summer.
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
I've noticed the Pentastar 3.6 in our new 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan makes what sounds like a low pitched power steering pump whirring noise on cold start, that lasts a good 30sec or so. It's loud.

I'm not sure which rolling element it's coming from, but it sounds like a slow spinning hydraulic pump until she warms up a bit. Once warm, it's quiet aside from a slight exhaust rumble- also odd given the size of the muffler and resonator on the beast.

Had the same noise in our 2013 Dodge GC last winter when the temps dropped into the single digits. It was out of warranty, so just kept a close eye on it.
 
Bringing back an oldie here and I'm sorry if this has been brought up before. Couldn't find anything too close with the search feature.

It's bee almost 3yrs since I started this thread and I finally figured out where the cold start moan is coming from on our 2013 Grand Caravan's Pentastar. It's very clearly resonating from the engine oil pan. I did an oil change on it today with the engine cold (It's 80F+ out). I started it up to check for leaks afterwards and I generally look/feel around the drain plug as my last step. It was doing it's usual cold start moan/groan and man can you feel it from the engine oil pan. Pressing your palm against the pan deadens the sound greatly. Maybe it's the load cold oil puts on the oil pump, or the pump bypassing due to the oil not being up to temp? Every other OC I've done on this engine was when it was warm. Maybe the 2014+ oil filter housing and element change helped stop the noise? Hope this steers others in the right direction.
 
All the clues are there. Some weird restriction is just right to set up a resonance when everything lines up: pressure, flow, resistance, etc.

Definitely oil system related IMO...
 
What oil filter are you using in it? Maybe go back to an oem version if you're not using one currently. I also assume you're using the correct oil for it. Some filters can be a little restrictive and favor filtration over flow. The oem filters seem to be good.
 
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
What oil filter are you using in it? Maybe go back to an oem version if you're not using one currently. I also assume you're using the correct oil for it. Some filters can be a little restrictive and favor filtration over flow. The oem filters seem to be good.


I've been using Napa golds on it. These are drop in, cartridge style filters on these engines. Had the same noise on OEM filters as well given it's done it since new and I had the dealer do one oil change for me when it was newer.
 
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