Grinding, gnashing sound when cold

Grinding, gnashing sound when cold

My wife's '03 Corolla, automatic, recently started making a grinding/growling noise when the car is first started cold - and placed in drive.

It goes away after the engine warms up a bit, maybe a couple of minutes.

Any idea what this might be? Torque converter? Timing chain?

Do these cars have hydraulic timing chain tensioners?

Thanks!

idk but it may be u'r engine oil. U might be very low. I assume you live in a cold region during the winter, so use some thicker oil as well.

It's not low, yes I live in Michigan (Brr!), it might be the viscosity.

I'm using 5W-30, guess I can try 0W-30.

Has anyone here replaced their timing chain tensioner? I did on my RSX, it's oil-driven and when I removed it the thickest, blackest oil I've ever seen drained out of it. Apparently it doesn't circulate well through there. Changing it got rid of some of my grinding, but it didn't go away completely until I replaced my starter.

Well, no responses about the TCT....

I replaced oil and filter with Mobil 1 5W-30 (weather is just beginning to break around here) and Mobil 1 filter, replaced the coolant (I had been intending to do that for a while, the existing coolant was from JiffyLube) with Toyota coolant.

The belt squeals like a pig now, not sure if the growling is still there or not.

But, after reading a few posts about the serpentine tensioner on toyotanation, it seems as though the growling noise might also be produced by a bad tensioner.

She's on her second tensioner (55K miles) and evidently ready for her third.

Sheez. Reminds me of a GM!