What is that rattle?!

[WA_TRD_83]

Hello motorheads..

Thought I would post up this interesting rattle I am having with the car at the moment..
Sounds like top end somewhere, like a noisy tappet or really noisy injector ...
But the noise is so inconsistent that it is too hard to diagnose. *frustrating*
Seems to go away/fade after the motor has warmed up

But the thing is, it does not affect the power or performance of the car at all.. there is just this loud rattle that comes and goes. Mainly when you put a bit of load on the engine. No smoke out of the exhaust. No visible problems from the outside of the engine

I found out yesterday that the noise is more prominent in gear. I had it in Drive and the the rattle noise was there, then I dropped it into Neutral noise went away, dropped it into Reverse and gave it a revv noise was back again... I'm starting to wonder if it has somethin to do with my sloppy Auto gearbox ??

The car has been serviced recently, so all fluids are checked and up to scratch.

Anyone wanna start pointing at possible problems and where to look / testing / diagnosing etc?..

At the moment I am still driving the car, as it runs fine and not chewing anymore fuel etc.. Just waiting for something to break so I know what to fix!!

Thanks for your thoughts
Damo

[oldcorollas]

big end?
...

[ViPeR_NiPPleX]

oil surge? loose or blocked oil feed in the sump?

[Hen]

According to Principal Skinner that's the heating ducts, it'll be fixed on Tuesday...

[WA_TRD_83]

big end?
...

nah.. its not a knock .. its more of a tapping...

oil surge? loose or blocked oil feed in the sump?

hmm.. this sounds interesting.. tell me more..
could have something to do with the oil pressure gauge going up and down a bit inconsistantly these days

Damo

[ViPeR_NiPPleX]

check oil level, make sure the oil pump is in check, monitor oil pressure at idle and where it relieves.. then when it makes the noise observe if there is a pressure drop. Something along those lines. It's just a guess.

[rolleraction]

FWIW, I had a 6cyl Falcon ute (yes I admit thats sad) and had a similar noise that ended up being a broken fin/vane thingo in the torque converter. Car drove OK but under load a horrible rattle that was difficult to locate as it sounded a lot higher up than the converter.
Replace converter and all good...
Just a thought........

[Vios-GT_07]

exhaust rattle somewhere? had something similar turned out to be the exhaust manifold heat shield.. happened again a bit louder, and was an exhaust pipe mount somewhere under the car that came loose.. could explain why it happens more in gear?

[allencr]

Flex-plate?
Loose AC comp., PS pump, alt., idler pully, accessory/front pully, waterpump, timing belt tensioner.

[WA_TRD_83]

FWIW, I had a 6cyl Falcon ute (yes I admit thats sad) and had a similar noise that ended up being a broken fin/vane thingo in the torque converter. Car drove OK but under load a horrible rattle that was difficult to locate as it sounded a lot higher up than the converter.
Replace converter and all good...
Just a thought........

I'm liking this suggestion the most thus far .. As it is, the auto box has been f**ked for the past 3 - 4 years .. so I may as well replace it, and hopefully fix two problems at once

Damo

[ajh]

Exhaust Manifold Gasket?

My wife's camry (3sfe) had a leaky one. Sounded like a noisy tappet on cold starting, noisy under load and eventually faded as the engine got hot.

Might be worth checking....

Her's had a "soot" mark on the head where the leak was so it was pretty easy to spot.

Cheers.

[fixeruperer]

does it go like dedede de de or tik tik tik tik maybe dikatok dikatok dikatok, as if we know what your talking about, its hard enuff over the fone.

[WA_TRD_83]

hey all..
Thanks for your help and suggestions - esp rolleraction who pointed me in the right direction. For anyone who was interested, Problem was loose bolts from the torque converter to the flex plate!
WTF!?
Dunno how they just loosened themselves. Lucky they didnt shear off or break! they were litterally finger tight

Anyway - no chances taken.
New gearbox installed, new torque converter, loctite on those dam bolts

All done - no more rattle noise, car drives good!

end of thread

cheers
Damo