1997 3.8 engine noise?

I have a 97 Riv. When the engine is just started cold their is a noise coming from the engine that is evident in the air intake hose between the intake and the air filter. It lasts about 90 seconds and is unnerving. The service tech at the local Buick dealer said this is normal , it's not what I want to be normal, this is a Riv not a Ugo. Thanks

What does the noise sound like?

Im not saying that this is a normal sound but just rember this, it is a machine with moving parts and little explosions that happen many times a second. When you first start stuff up, oil takes a bit to get up into the top end of the engine and other stuff like that. espically when it is cold. Compared to a yugo, the Buick will offer alot more comfort, reliablity, longevity, and so much more, but that does not mean that it can defy the properities of oil viscosities and lifter fill up. and other stuff like that at cold start up.

Take an LS1 for example. They have the short skirt pistions in them and they are alum. blocks. So when it is cold out and the engine is heating up, since alum. has different expansion rates and whatnot than the pistons. It has a tendicy to have some piston slap. Which is normal.

I am a tech and have done many repairs in my 52 yrs. and this is different. It is not lifter rattle or piston slap (for I have a Z28 and it is really quiet for 101,000 miles of not babying it)Id does have the plastic intake and I believe this is part of the problem. Like years ago on my 3 Duce setup on a 65 GTO sound can be emitted from ares other than the tail pipes. The tech today looked for Service Bulitines from GM on this but he couldn't find then (he had told me of this problem 2 weeks ago) he is hopefully looking further to find it. But he did say it did have to do with the emissions, plastic intake but couldn't pin point exactly. There was a change in the air intake system in 98 though.But the sound comes from inside the engine but emitted out of the hose. thanks