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cold start noise


redtomatoman

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The Pentastar is a lightweight, thin walled, aluminum motor with miles of timing chain. The chains are stronger than belts but will make more noise than a belt. Then once you consider that most of the bolted on components are plastic, there just really isn't much to suppress noise when its below freezing and you attempt a cold start. Noises that were once covered up by thick steel forged blocks are now a little more pronounced due to the lightweight aluminum blocks.

I am no master mechanic and someone else might have a better answer. But through extensive research over the past couple years, these are a few things I have learned. I also leave my car out in the weather and these noises really bothered me after I bought my Journey. Now it doesn't seem to bother me, as the sounds seem to have gotten better with age.

I wouldn't worry to much about it unless the problem becomes worse.

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I know I complain about cold starts. And my Journey complains to. We have just come out of a real cold period. We were down to -25 F last week and I heard noises I did not hear before. I think it is about time to head south to warmer climate.

Go pretty far. Its 9F with three new inches of snow on the ground this morning in New Mexico. Its not -25F, but its still cold. Gotta get out and shovel in a few minutes after a few more sips of my coffee. I'm not driving my DJ today, but I'm sure it would complain if I was. :(

Peace.

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I know I complain about cold starts. And my Journey complains to. We have just come out of a real cold period. We were down to -25 F last week and I heard noises I did not hear before. I think it is about time to head south to warmer climate.

-25? Holy Crap!! I cant imagine what that must feel like.

Or how an engine can even turn over at that temp.

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Have you guys checked your power steering fluid level? My DJ is a little over 1 year old and I just noticed the fluid has slowly gone below the minimum level line over the year. Not sure how it lost it, but it's a very small amount. Guess I need to head to the dealership to get some power steering fluid.

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-25? Holy Crap!! I cant imagine what that must feel like.

Or how an engine can even turn over at that temp.

We had -38.6 C here a few days ago. -40 C is about where it evens out to F. We have electric block heaters up here in Northern Alberta that heats up the coolant to help start easier. Everything whines at those temps. Keep smiling down South! B)

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We had -38.6 C here a few days ago. -40 C is about where it evens out to F. We have electric block heaters up here in Northern Alberta that heats up the coolant to help start easier. Everything whines at those temps. Keep smiling down South! B)

Block heaters makes more sense. Down here we only see those on Diesel Engines.

You Canadians are BRAVE! We got down to 25F last night. lol

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Have you guys checked your power steering fluid level? My DJ is a little over 1 year old and I just noticed the fluid has slowly gone below the minimum level line over the year. Not sure how it lost it, but it's a very small amount. Guess I need to head to the dealership to get some power steering fluid.

i worked in a chrysler plant and to be honest all the fluids come just above the min mark, that said i just noticed 2 days ago my power steering was at min or just a little below so i added some to just below the full mark. the car manufactures put in just enough to get by a little here and a little there adds up to alot of savings for them. not saying that is right but thats how they keep cost down they figure everything down to th.001 percent of everything to cut cost.. p. s. i just added some lucas power steering fuild and sealer left over from my daughters car a couple of months ago. i know its not approved fuild by chrysler but this stuff works great with power steering sytems and the noises that they make and ive never had any problems after adding it and have used it for the last 10 yrs in all my dodge products..

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-25? Holy Crap!! I cant imagine what that must feel like. Or how an engine can even turn over at that temp.

-25° C is cold, but we here on the Canadian Prairies we are a hardy bunch and the temp often goes to -40° C in the middle of our winters, which coincidentally is also -40° F. I live about 400 miles east of the OP in Regina. At -25° C. If your battery is strong and your car is plugged in or to say the block heater is working the car will turn over, getting heat will take some time as the engine warms up.

Terry

Edited by Windancer
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  • Official Dodge Support

Its the power steering pump that makes that noise when it cold . Had mine in a couple of years ago for that sound , they said it was normal .

Bubba,

I've dealt with a few Customers up in the North West Territories and the Yukon, noisy power steering pump came up often as being problematic. But these vehicles are under extreme low temperatures up there so it's safe to say that the climate is a factor.

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We had -38.6 C here a few days ago. -40 C is about where it evens out to F. We have electric block heaters up here in Northern Alberta that heats up the coolant to help start easier. Everything whines at those temps. Keep smiling down South! B)

We have a manufacturing plant in Olds. I never got to visit in the winter, but they routinely get -40 degree temps. When I was there in July a couple years ago, they actually had a "heat wave" as they called it, got to like 26 C (@80 F). I was laughing at them complaining how hot it was. Thats spring weather here. We have a -20 C walk in freezer at work that I had to go in the other day. The cold is immediate and all I could think about was get me the heck out of here! I can't begin to imagine what -40 feels like.

Edited by jkeaton
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  • 3 weeks later...

It feels like you would rather have you fingers and toes cut off because they are just too painful. But the worst is at the end of january and early february when it is - 40 with a lot of windchill making it feel like -52.

I had 3 dodge car in my life and every winter when it is cold the make the same sound. the colder it gets the louder the noise is but it always fades away after a few seconds. I think it's nothing to worry about but keeping all of

your fluids at a good level and fairly new will make it easier on your car. Fluids usualy get thiner when hot and thicker when cold, specialy when they get old.

it's just there little way to let you know they dont feel like being driving. Just like us every morning when it's cold you just dont want to get out of bed. :)

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Mine made a short bark too, for the first time ever on Saturday morning when the temp was about 2 degrees. Made the same sound this morning, temp was about 9-10 degrees F. Lasted less than a second and was gone. My guess is power steering pump but it didn't last long enough to pinpoint. Everything is working normally. Right now, as long as the heated steering wheel is working then I don't give a damn about much else! :)

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Same noise as well for our 2013 DJ, at -22° Celsius (-7.6°F). Startling screeching sound for 1-2 seconds upon start-up. At first thought it was ice on the serpentine belt or pulleys - but now as mentioned the PS pump looks to be the culprit (similar whining sound on previous Dodges when the PS fluid is low).

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have a 2010 Journey and the power steering fluid in it is actually ATF4. Transmission fluid go figure?? Noise in the cold is very common for any vehicle. My work truck which is a 2010 ford E-150 likes to whine in the cold too! It was -35C this morning where I live in Ontario, Canada. Because of these cold temps I always run synthetic oil because it flows better in these cold temperatures. I wish there was a synthetic power steering fluid I could find to try and lower the noise and wear in the colder weather.

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Valvoline makes a Full Synthetic ATF4. I changed my Chrysler minivan recently, and plan on doing my Journey when the weather warms some. I drained the reservoir 3 times over the course of 2 weeks. Topping off with full synthetic each time to completely rid the system of the original fluid. I haven't noticed a huge difference in performance but it seems to have helped the cold start whine I was hearing. I know our cold starts are weak compared to up North but we have seen a couple nights in the single digits (Fahrenheit) lately and I haven't heard the noise at all (knock on wood). :hammer_self:

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