On start my 1998 frontier rattles until oil pressure is up

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Make sure the oil filter is fitted with a return valve, some after market filters don't have this valve, and the oil drains back to the sump when stopped, It takes a second or two after starting to build up pressure with type of filter, so there is a rattle.

Knocking in engine and low oil pressure usually means bad main bearings. May have been caused by bad oil pump or just worn out bearings due to high mileage. If this is problem needs engine or rebuild old engine.

Also- the rattle is most likely the valve lifters. The lifters on this engine and the model previous (I have owned both to 180k miles or more) lose pressure when the motor is off. They re-pressureize with engine oil after the motor starts and tap a little until they "pump up" to full size. Just don't drive until the rattle dies down and as long as it is under 30 seconds or so- you will be fine there.

READ THIS (happy ending so far...):
audi a4 2L turbo quattro, manual transmission with 98,000 KM. Perfect conditions, no oil leaks whatsoever.

Left the car off for two weeks in very cold weather (-10C down to -25C). When I restarted, it started immediately but with heavy rattling noise due to camshaft adjuster not getting enough oil pressure. After 3 minutes of warming up (outside temp.: -12C) at very low rpm (below 2,000rpm), I start moving the car. Still hearing heavy rattle noise. As soon as I pass 2,000 rpm, I get a scary red warning, low oil pressure. Turn off the engine immediately. In 1 minute, I re-start the car and the engine lights check ok, so I drive in first gear super slow (1,200rpm) hearing the same rattling noise. After another minute, finally the noise all the sudden disappears and the car starts running just fine.

Called Audi dealer and they told me that in extreme weather conditions, I should warm the engine for 10-15 minutes if necessary before start moving.
Take away: luckily, I didn't screw up the engine since I was using it at extremely low rpm (easy to do with clutch and manual transmission) until the oil reached full pressure. I am pretty sure now that the problem was leaving the car off for such a long time in freezing weather. All the oil flows back to the bottom, and when I restarted it, the cold oil with high viscosity took a long time to reach all the parts of the engine, specially the camshaft adjusters that are actuated by using oil pressure. Next day, the car started at -9C perfectly without making any noise (as usual). Basically, the longer you leave your audi in cold weather, the longer you might hear the rattling noise until the oil reach full pressure inside the engine. My car took 6 minutes to fix it after couple of weeks in cold weather. This makes sense to me; in fact, in the past I only heard the rattling noise after leaving the car off for a couple of days in the winter.
So far, this has had an happy ending....

If your oil level is good and this happened all of sudden, you probably have an oil pump going out.


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Hook up a fuel pressure guage to see if its holding during start cycle

The Nissan motor that came as a V6 will rattle on start up if it has the wrong oil filter on it or the wrong oil or oil that needs changed badly 10-40 resists rattle better than 5-30 and works good in motors that have some miles on them. Does the oil light go out right away when the motor starts? Change the oil first with the right oil filter before you try anything else.

I hope that you had the proper weight oil installed, at your oil change. If your oil is up to the proper level, and it's rattling ,this is VERY bad. White smoke usually means steam in the exhaust, and that means a blown head gasket. Check your coolant level. I wouldn't drive it anymore......until someone knowledgeable can diagnose it!!!!!

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