Engine idle chirping (cricket) noise poll.

[phalacy]

I wanted to give everyone a heads up on what worked (and more) for me.

My crickets started very early on- I don't remember exactly. Between about 1800 and 3300 mi. though they got to the point of ridiculousness. Probably worse than most from what I can glean from the forums. That led me here. I took it into the dealership and sure enough they ordered a pump. I'm waiting on parts. They said it is an improved deisgn- we shall see. My noise was so loud I'm concerned that there may have been degradation to the HFDP. Anyhow, I'll get the new pump installed just in case.
.....---In the mean time.

1 bottle octane booster + a tank of 87 straigh gas (0%ethanol). put into about a quater tank of 93 10% ethanol. AND THIS IS IMPORTANT. I read the lexus forums that this thread referenced and bout a quart of the TWC3 Quicksilver premium synthetic blend marine 2 cycle oil. VERY CAREFULLY added it to the fresh tank strictly following 1oz. per 5 gallons of gas. The car drove well on the way home- still making noise. Next morning I got up and started her up and let it idle all the way to warm up. Cleaned the windows while this was going on. Odd....no crickets. Opened the hood up- nothing AND the whole engine was running smoother than a baby cricket's ass. Since day one I thought the engine felt like she wanted to fly apart with the hood up. Figured this was a boxer thing...not anymore. So then drove her into work. Not a chirp. Idle is PERFECT at 600 rpm. Engine is so quiet at stop lights with the windows down I almost can't hear the engine. My pulls are noticeably stronger and more responsive. I feel like I'm not driving the car I bought at all now. I was losing so much power and driveability to this problem. Even my main belt and pulleys just roll around visually smoother and quieter.

My next test will be adding the oil to a full tank of 93 10% ethanol. I have little doubt this will work just as well. My roomate put the 2 cycle oil in his Evo 9 MR and within a few minuets his rough idle was gone. I will forever put this in every tank of gas in every vehicle I ever own again.

This is what I did, and will continue to do. It worked for me. Good luck!! That noise was unexceptable. [I live in souther MS so we have heat and humidity every day]

[dsgerbc]

Originally Posted by Opie

18,000 total miles, over 4,000 since the cricket fix, running Sam's Club E10 93 in hot ass Florida...still no crickets...

My replacement pump #3 (the one with the colored dot on the box that I verified myself) just started chirping again, after ~3months and 1.5k miles. So, I'm gonna predict that yours will too.

[BRZnut]

Originally Posted by phalacy

I wanted to give everyone a heads up on what worked (and more) for me.

My crickets started very early on- I don't remember exactly. Between about 1800 and 3300 mi. though they got to the point of ridiculousness. Probably worse than most from what I can glean from the forums. That led me here. I took it into the dealership and sure enough they ordered a pump. I'm waiting on parts. They said it is an improved deisgn- we shall see. My noise was so loud I'm concerned that there may have been degradation to the HFDP. Anyhow, I'll get the new pump installed just in case.
.....---In the mean time.

1 bottle octane booster + a tank of 87 straigh gas (0%ethanol). put into about a quater tank of 93 10% ethanol. AND THIS IS IMPORTANT. I read the lexus forums that this thread referenced and bout a quart of the TWC3 Quicksilver premium synthetic blend marine 2 cycle oil. VERY CAREFULLY added it to the fresh tank strictly following 1oz. per 5 gallons of gas. The car drove well on the way home- still making noise. Next morning I got up and started her up and let it idle all the way to warm up. Cleaned the windows while this was going on. Odd....no crickets. Opened the hood up- nothing AND the whole engine was running smoother than a baby cricket's ass. Since day one I thought the engine felt like she wanted to fly apart with the hood up. Figured this was a boxer thing...not anymore. So then drove her into work. Not a chirp. Idle is PERFECT at 600 rpm. Engine is so quiet at stop lights with the windows down I almost can't hear the engine. My pulls are noticeably stronger and more responsive. I feel like I'm not driving the car I bought at all now. I was losing so much power and driveability to this problem. Even my main belt and pulleys just roll around visually smoother and quieter.

My next test will be adding the oil to a full tank of 93 10% ethanol. I have little doubt this will work just as well. My roomate put the 2 cycle oil in his Evo 9 MR and within a few minuets his rough idle was gone. I will forever put this in every tank of gas in every vehicle I ever own again.

This is what I did, and will continue to do. It worked for me. Good luck!! That noise was unexceptable. [I live in souther MS so we have heat and humidity every day]

Finally...another believer!! I've been using the TWC 3 oil (as you did, 1 oz to 5 gallons) since day one. No crickets/ smooth idle/ and all the noise from the engine that I noticed the day I picked her up has never returned.

Now at 6400 miles the idle is smoother and smoother each day, with no crickets. And this is with 92 octane 10% alcohol gas.

[Young_makaveli]

Originally Posted by phalacy

I wanted to give everyone a heads up on what worked (and more) for me.

My crickets started very early on- I don't remember exactly. Between about 1800 and 3300 mi. though they got to the point of ridiculousness. Probably worse than most from what I can glean from the forums. That led me here. I took it into the dealership and sure enough they ordered a pump. I'm waiting on parts. They said it is an improved deisgn- we shall see. My noise was so loud I'm concerned that there may have been degradation to the HFDP. Anyhow, I'll get the new pump installed just in case.
.....---In the mean time.

1 bottle octane booster + a tank of 87 straigh gas (0%ethanol). put into about a quater tank of 93 10% ethanol.

Doesn't 87 gas contain 10% ethanol? And 91 and higher contain 0%??

When I go to shell I always use shell v power 91 and it says contains 0% ethanol?

[userjack6880]

Originally Posted by Young_makaveli

Doesn't 87 gas contain 10% ethanol? And 91 and higher contain 0%??

When I go to shell I always use shell v power 91 and it says contains 0% ethanol?

Most of the stations around here will carry 91 or 93 octane e10. There's just a handful of zero-ethanol stations, and one or two of them have 93 zero e.

[phalacy]

Originally Posted by Young_makaveli

Doesn't 87 gas contain 10% ethanol? And 91 and higher contain 0%??

When I go to shell I always use shell v power 91 and it says contains 0% ethanol?

in my area, the only e0 I can find is straight 87 octane. None of the Shell stations near me have any ethanol free gas at any octane rating. I'm sure this changes depending where you are....

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by Young_makaveli

Doesn't 87 gas contain 10% ethanol? And 91 and higher contain 0%??

When I go to shell I always use shell v power 91 and it says contains 0% ethanol?

That may be the case in your region but I've NEVER heard of that being consistent beyond a particular region AND brand combination.

There are exactly 5 gas stations that are ethanol free in California according to that pure gas site everyone links. In any case ethanol is a band aid, over a year in and no pump failures.

[Young_makaveli]

Just hit 1000km and still no chirping or crickets

Fingers crossed

[horrorbiz]

Mine hasn't been chirping much at all lately. I'm at around 4,500 miles. Seems to have gotten quieter over the last 1000 miles. Still getting either shell or mobile 93. Maybe it's just the cooler temperatures.

[JonAvalon]

Mine chirps but it isn't too bad. Have had it since the early stages of the 1K break in period.

Most times it begins chirping after the car has completely warmed up after X amount of miles when going out. When i'm running low on gas it oddly goes away until i fill up.

[zenzsh]

Dealer has replaced my pump and so far so good. I stick to Shell 91

[DCStorm]

Originally Posted by Opie

18,000 total miles, over 4,000 since the cricket fix, running Sam's Club E10 93 in hot ass Florida...still no crickets...

What exactly fixed your crickets? Did you take it to the dealer to have them replace the fuel pump?

I've been running Shell VPower 93 since day one and the crickets have only been getting louder. Pretty sure it has 10% ethanol.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by DCStorm

What exactly fixed your crickets? Did you take it to the dealer to have them replace the fuel pump?

I've been running Shell VPower 93 since day one and the crickets have only been getting louder. Pretty sure it has 10% ethanol.

For a lot of people the noise just goes away, mine has 13k miles, original pump, all 91 E10 and it's almost gone, most people don't hear it and think I'm crazy.

[losjackal]

I have been running Shell 93 from the Chicagoland area since the beginning, and did indeed develop crickets after the first tank in my 10 series. (There are no gas stations nearby that sell pure gasoline).

Originally Posted by phalacy

I read the lexus forums that this thread referenced and bout a quart of the TWC3 Quicksilver premium synthetic blend marine 2 cycle oil.

So this makes sense to me, because it's literally lubricating the fuel pump. Is it a good idea to add this type of TWC 2-cycle oil to our four-stroke, highly tuned engines? I don't know, but there doesn't seem to be any strong logical or scientific arguments against it. They may warn against long-term use, so perhaps that is the only caveat.


As I was researching that, I came across other potential additives. These seems to address the problems introduced by ethanol directly:

http://petelandrysrealgas.com/2013/0...ive-of-choice/
http://www.channel3000.com/news/Brig...z/-/index.html
http://www.briggsandstratton.com/us/...fuel-treatment

I'm wondering if moisture in the gasoline is causing the crickets, and if these "water displacement" additives approach might be an ideal solution. (Curious, oil displaces water too...I wonder how much different the net effect is anyway, say compared to the 2-stroke oil...)