I think I'm hearing timing chain rattle. everything was replaced around 75k miles, car now has 100k. my car also blows out greyish/white smoke on hard accelerations now. thats been happening before the rattle started though. I'm wondering if the rattle is ok or do I need to address it? seems to go away after a couple minutes, maybe I should let the car warm up from now on before driving it? I live in south florida so it doesn't take long.

 

Have you check the oil level? Will sometimes rattle on start up if the oil is low.

 

it uses alot of oil and it doesn't have much of a leak. I check it often. its gotten below the bottom mark a couple times, no low oil light though. today I listened for the rattle while the engine was still warm and heard it a little but I'm not convinced its coming from the timing chain area. tomorrow I'll listen during a cold start and report back

 

Any engine rattle that wasn't there a few days/weeks/months ago can't be good. Chase it down.

Also, post your vehicle specs etc. so others on here may give you a more informed opinion. Somebody may know you and your vehicle, but the person that can help you the most may not.

 

That's not a low oil level warning, it's a low oil pressure warning. It's means you are doing damage to your motor.

If the rattle hasn't been happening long, you may be able to get away with replacing the tensioner. Been there, done that.

 

All the new oem timing kits come with the longer tensioner. Unless they installed a amazon/ebay timing kit then they might be able to get away with the newest tensioner.

Also what weight oil are you running? Could try going up to 5w-40 and see if it goes away.

 

Not sure what your rattle sounds like, but I was chasing down a new ticking sound recently and it ended up being the drive belt. The sound was coming from the cam chain side, down low. But the timing chain had been replaced right before I bought the car, so I was hoping it wasn’t that. I started with replacing the cheaper things first and lucked out with the belt. It was definitely due for a new one.