Yes. Subaru's boxers have always been noisy and rattling when cold. No worries.

 

Yes, at cold start-up they are designed to run at 1800RPM until the engine coolant reaches around 90 degrees F., to help with catalytic converter warm-up. And yes, it sounds like an angry lawnmower.
Some of us have moved to a slightly heavier grade of synthetic oil to minimize the sound- it seems to help a bit.

 

I’ve noticed on my scangauge that the light is triggered by a coolant temp of 122f as opposed to a specific oil temp. I’ve seen the oil temp anywhere from 86-102

 

On our MY18, I've done a couple things to quell that :
1) switched engine oil to Castrol Syntec 5w-30
2) replaced 2 driver's side Vvt actuators(ours were leaky, this got rid of a lot of noise on that side)
3) use chevron techron concentrate annually to keep carbon deposits down and detonation quality high
regards

 

Yes they are a bit noisy on a cold start. High rpms till the blue light go's out at 120*F according to my ScanGauge. The engine has a bit of a metal rattle because of the timing chain instead of a timing belt. Its normal.

 

Let's start by asking how noisy. Yes they are a bit noisier than expected but let's not discount the possibility something could be amiss with OP's car and just dismiss it as normal. Have a video?
Switching to a little heavier oil, as mentioned, does help.

 

This is so subjective and may depend on what you're used to. I've had Jaguars with V12s and they're so smooth and quiet that you have to check the engine is still running (with BL cars, that's not always the case, LOL).

It's normal for it to initially idle at higher revs (as with any ICE car) and then settle down when it warms up. Can't say I've noticed but I would also expect it to quieten down as the tolerances are based on the engine being warm, hence less rattly when it warms up.

Compared to other cars, I do find it noisier when I'm outside of it, or when doors or windows are open but when driving it's fine. If you're concerned, take it to a Subaru dealer. They don't usually charge for a simple evaluation and while you're there you can ask for a test drive in a new one (if they have any) and compare.

 

It's normal for it to initially idle at higher revs (as with any ICE car) and then settle down when it warms up. Can't say I've noticed but I would also expect it to quieten down as the tolerances are based on the engine being warm, hence less rattly when it warms up.

Pretty much this is the case with any car as far back as I can remember including carburetor cars of the 1960's through the early 1980's. I'm old enough to remember a mechanical cam that the throttle would rest against to enable fast idle. After the car was warm and the choke opened, you needed to hit the accelerator to knock it off the cam and restore curb idle. All of that is now electronic with fuel injection cars and we don't give it a thought, it just does what it has to do.

Besides my trip down Memory Lane, as far as the noise, Subarus in general have noisy engines. The two Outbacks I had before my Crosstrek were noisy too - my 97 Outback was the noisiest, but both Outbacks had that "angry lawnmower" sound while at about 2200-2500 rpm's, but not outside that range. It does appear that Subaru's sound insulation is better in the 2020 Crosstrek though as you don't hear a lot when inside the car with the windows closed.

 

My '13 sounded like it was going to throw a rod when it was new. Dealer said that they all sound like that but wouldn't let me start a cold one to see. Figured that if it blew I'd get a new engine. That was 120K ago. Cam chain loosened up enough so that the tensioner took up a notch & that helped. Still rattles but not as much. Just wait until it warms up before you punch it and you'll beOK

 

Lack of oil for about 30 seconds, till the sound changes & car stops shaking, for my 2019 Crostrek.

A loud noise could be a hydraulic lifter, till it gets oil.

Needs heavier oil, as said above.

 

I'm thinking of 0W30 now that the factory warranty is over...

 

I'm using 5W-30 for almost a year. I have 31,000 on my '19. There is not gonna be a warranty problem.

 

I find the GDI engine in my XV revs a lot higher on a cold start compared to my Outback’s 2.5 MPFI engine.

 

I think it really makes the engine warmup faster, I find with 28-30 celcius ambient temperature, it will rev just less than 2 minutes, even though I can drive another 30 minutes before the engine oil temperature reach 95 degree celcius.

 

The cat warm up cycle can be removed via an ECM tune. The engine will run around 1200RPM when cold instead, similar to older cars. Running 0W-30 oil will quiet down the engine considerably. Both of these things are pro longevity, but anti-warranty.

 

0W-30 quieting down the engine 'considerably' suggests it is a rather large percentage change in decibels on using 0W-20. That sounds very far fetched for a moderately subtle change in weight. Just wondering what your source is or research is or how you gain any experience on the longevity of your FB with using 0W-30 instead of 0W20? I don't disagree, but I would like to get some information on that. The controlled environment for that to be tested would be considerable and very lengthy. Perhaps tested over 100,000s of miles and over many cars to see a statistically significant level of earlier engine failure in cars using 0W-20. And even then you would need to look at other impacts on engine longevity like cold start environment, warm up time, aggression of acceleration, oil quality etc. The sort of testing that Subaru would do and come to the conclusion that it recommends 0W-20 oil...

 

Mostly agree except that meeting emissions requirements is also a factor..

 

If you are referring to the more metallic sounds heard, you may be encountering what I understand to be boundary lubrication issues. Some of us use friction modifiers (Molykote, Archoil, NIS Nanolub*) to mitigate those issues. My engine became smoother and quieter with use of FM's and now get almost no metallic noise on startup, even with 5W30. Will probably go back to 0W20 if we get sub 0 (F) temps. Metal on metal = wear!

artosa

 

FB motor valve train design

On the new FB motor, can anyone tell me, what is the valve train design? Are the new style lifters hydraulic/non adjustable in design. I do all my own maintenance (minor and major) on everything we own. My wife is strongly considering a 2016 Outback as her new commuter, which would be our...

www.subaruoutback.org

These engines are HLA, that is Hydraulic Lash Actuator. In other words, it take oil pressure to build up under the bucket and fill in the gap between the valves.

When the engine is cold, the oil has no pressure until it is built up. So, yes, you’ll experience some valvetrain noise until oil pressure fixes that lash gap. Perfectly normal and acceptable.

 

The chemical composition amount of the SAPS (sulfated ash, phosphorus and sulfur) that may differentiate oil for GDI engine but not really NOACK level, NOACK level is important to control amount of oil burnt that will impact oil consumption during oil change interval, and with the higher level of SAPS burnt, the oil will leave more deposits. That is the reason more oils are using organic (non-metallic) additive that leave less residue when the oil is burnt.
In my experience, with 0w20 I do not see much increase of noise compared to 0w-30, and better quality of oil play more important part on reducing the startup noise. I guess much of the noise during startup is caused the AVCS open more aggressively to let the engine heating faster and cause more rumble sound heard.

 

It's pretty normal these days for the tiny four-bangers to be 'noisy' and noisier in general mechanically than the older bigger engines. The Toyotas now are using 0w16 oil to meet standards and those engines are LOUD (comparatively). If it bothers you, talk to the dealer or an independent mechanic you already have a good relationship with to get a recommendation. Most people just want their engines to last and not sound annoying. No tiny four-banger is getting 7 mpg like the old days or belching fumes like the non-catted V8s of the '60s.

High idle on startup is normal even going back decades like someone else mentioned. My '65 Ford 390 had a factory spec fast idle of 1500 RPM. Now that's a loud engine on a cold start.

 

Our cars are in an insulated garage. Never drops below 0 °C on sub near Canadian boarder -20 °C mornings. High idle as everyone else specifies, but that's initiated to activate the CAT to start doing it's job, about ...30 seconds and slow back out, followed by a crawl to our highway entrance ramp 1 mile or so.