80,000 mile 3.4 piston slap?

has anyone had a 3.4 with piston slap? as its gotten colder here the coldstarts with my 3.4 have been getting rougher. it runs pretty crappy when its cold then gets better as it heats up. The engine has a tapping noise that you can hear in the oilpan when its warming up that causes me concern. It goes away entirely when the car is up to operating temp but is present when its cold unloaded and loaded. in my experience rod knock gets worse as the engine gets hotter, but in this case it goes away entirely. any thoughts?

 

My truck doesn't seem to like the cold much either. Are you sure it's not just valves tapping?

 

Post a video. Sure it isn't injector tick? Sometimes they sound like a sewing machine. Or slow morse code.

 

If you've ever listened to a 1GR they sound like a diesel engine with the piston slap. I have had good luck using BG MOA to help remove alot of engine noise.

 

Curious as to what this "BG MOA" is that you speak of?

 

$15 BG Advanced Formula MOA 115

https://www.amazon.com/BG-Advanced-Formula-MOA-115/dp/B07TCQR57B?ie=UTF8
This stuff. Pretty popular and seems to do good.

 

the issue is that you cant really hear it on a video or outside of the cab, but if you listen with a stethoscope on the oilpan you can hear tictictictictictic until it warms all the way up. after it warms up it sounds pretty good. one of the bearings on my timing belt is shitting the bed slowly so im wondering if im hearing the timing belt bearing and not the bearings. I did an oil sample test last oil change and it came back pretty good and i dont see a crazy amount of sparkles when i look at the oil so its a complete mystery to me. it gets good power and gas mileage just has that god forsaken noise when it cold starts

 

it might be, but im not sure. would you be able to hear the valves in the oil pan? . im thinking that the noise is just reverberating from elsewhere since the oilpan is thin metal. you cant hear it on the side of the engine or anywhere else, even right next to the crankshaft under the air conditioning compressor.

 

You should try a compression test. If it's piston slap you'd think you'd have lost a decent bit of compression.

 

Thats a good point, ill do a leakdown test and see how it does