5sfe engine noise...rattle, loud rattling sound from front of engine Options

[axelrduvirage]

Has anyone else noticed a loud annoying rattle coming from the front of the 5sfe engine ? i thought it was the A/C since it was banged p pretty bad, needed a new drier and compressor and had leaks. i had the whole A/C system pulled but the sound didn't go away. i thought after removing the A/C pulleys and going to a short belt it would stop. it is really loud from a cold start and "seems" to die down after a few kms of highway driving (25 km to work every morning). i am wondering if it is a timing belt pre-failure thing or it could be a loose cover or i don't know what. before i pay my tech to troubleshoot it ($.$) i would really appreciate any input, related experiences or good guesses as to what this might be. all i know is that it can be really loud and really really really annoying. people are staring at the CeliPig for the wrong reason. the car otherwise runs great. doesn't burn oil, idles just below the hash mark, accelerates normally, temp is normal and gets OK fuel consumption numbers-- 9l/100km or 26mpg.

thank you all

peace

This post has been edited by axelrduvirage: Sep 17, 2008 - 8:25 PM

[richee3]

How funny that I was just thinking about this and investigating this morning??? Mine does it too. I thought it was the clutch because... It's a long story, but I thought I had jacked something up pretty bad. It only made the rattle at 2,000 RPM, regardless of whether the motor was hot or cold. In the last few weeks, it's gotten a lot louder and now it does it at 1,000, 2,000, AND 3,000 rpm. So I popped my hood this morning to see if I could figure out where the sound was coming from. It's definitely coming from somewhere around my valve cover, and almost sounds like it's the valves flying around and hitting everything inside the motor (although I know that's not the case.) My car has made this rattling noise for 30,000 miles now, and so far, no major damage. Only the embarrassment of driving around with a rattling car. But lately it's gotten louder and worse. Good thing I'm selling the car in a couple of weeks!

EDIT: My car does it all the time. Not just until it warms up. It's completely RPM-dependent in my case.

This post has been edited by richee3: May 2, 2009 - 1:05 PM