Cold start noise

Has anyone experienced this noise on a cold start?
I have a 2019 2.7 2tr-fe. Paired with the 6speed AT I believe and it’s 4x4. purchased this truck used with 114,000 miles. The noise started about 2 months after getting it. Everything I’ve read says something about oil pressure building and after the oil pressure builds the noise subsides. I’ve noticed that it gets louder when in gear and accelerating but when I take my foot off the pedal it goes away. Noise presents itself for about maybe a minute. Then goes away for the rest of driving period. Everything I’ve read so far says it’s the VVT.
I also have an intermittent p0355 code. Says it’s the crank shaft positioning sensor. I plan on checking that out this weekend.

https://youtube.com/shorts/70-WydSBGAo?si=Qt96ICmsrSsl6nYX

 

The VVT gear has a spring loaded pin in it that is supposed to "lock" the gear in neutral until the oil pressure is high enough to start adjusting the cam advance. Toyota had a problem for years with the pin to hole tolerance being too tight. This would cause the pin to not engage with the hole properly. An unlocked gear will rattle at start-up. Search Youtube for the "The Car Care Nut". He has a couple of very good vids on the problem.

 

100% I saw his vids and lead me to that conclusion. I’ve seen vids where someone records their experience with the noise and none of them seem to sound or be as loud as mine… I just got this truck about 2 months ago and I’m now considering selling it to avoid repair costs

 

This exact issue started showing up for me around 55k miles on my 2019 2.7L Tacoma, loud engine noise during cold start-ups. It sounded like the VVT-i system wasn’t functioning properly, and a rattling noise was coming from the camshaft area, just as shown in this video.

After trying to diagnose the issue myself without success, I brought it to both a dealership and an independent shop. They each recommended dropping the engine for a “rebuild.” According to the repair manuals, the only way to access the oil pans is by removing the engine. I suspect that the lower oil pan can be removed without pulling the engine, especially on the 2WD model. Reluctantly, I let the dealership remove and tear down the engine as the problem was out of my league and I wanted the "experts” to take a look.
Ultimately, the root cause was a failed gasket on the oil pickup tube inside the lower oil pan. Failed gasket left, new gasket right.


The issue with this failed gasket was 2 fold.
1.)Oil in the upper part of the engine was able to leak back into the oil pan overnight. This left the oil lines unprimed, so oil couldn't reach the VVT-i system immediately during startup. Without oil pressure, the VVT-i actuator was free to move, causing the rattling noise.
2.) The oil pump was less effective because some of the oil it pumped was leaking right back into the pan through the compromised gasket. This reduction in oil flow further delayed oil delivery to the engine. Interestingly, once oil pressure caught up, the engine ran normally even with reduced flow.

I suspect an incompatible oil additive caused the gasket to swell, buckle, and fail. I had my tires replaced at 50k miles and got 5 free oil changes from the tire shop. I started using those shortly after, and this issue appeared. I don't know what type of oil they used but it was probably a cheap shit with a seal conditioner additive. Some high-mileage oils have seal conditioner additives that work by softening and expanding gaskets to extend their life. I suspect this expansion and softening caused my gasket to fail. Not all oil additives are bad, but low-mileage engines with healthy gaskets don't need random special additives.