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I have a very loud rattle at low speeds (parking lots, red lights, idle, etc) coming from the front passenger side of my engine bay. I traced the noise to somewhere near the alternator or fans, but it could possibly be lower, maybe a pulley?
Nothing looks loose, I felt around with the engine running and nothing is really vibrating more than usual, I can't exactly trace the noise to more than just this general area.
The noise has gotten much louder the last few days, it gets slightly louder/faster when I accelerate through parking lots, gets louder with higher RPMS.
When I am driving at 25+ I can't even hear the noise, most likely due to driving noise, but at low speeds the noise is intolerable, draws plenty of attention.
I am going to get a video posted here in the next few hours of the noise and shots of the engine bay, hopefully this helps.
Yeah pop the hood and look around. Some cars tend to have a plastic fan shroud which in time sag, and the fan can hit it. Do not stick your fingers under that shroud either!
Yeah pop the hood and look around. Some cars tend to have a plastic fan shroud which in time sag, and the fan can hit it. Do not stick your fingers under that shroud either!
The noise seems to be coming from this general area, I am going to look at it with the car off to see if I can see any damage to the shroud.
With the engine OFF it is safe to turn the fan by hand with one hand. With the other hand you can push the shroud here and there. I have seen a lot of saggy old shrouds hit and make a clattering noise. Around 35/45 mph it seems there is enough air flow to puff them up and keep the fan from hitting. I have a 86 dodge van that does this.
I drilled 2 holes in th shroud and used nylon ties to assist holding the shroud up, but then that won't be a fix for you since the hood is configured different than from a Dodge van.
Other things to check if say the fan is hitting low on the shroud or to one side in engine mounts.
To check them you may need an assistant to see, or to labor while you see. A fairly long bar might be needed to lift the engine once per side to see if the mounts are broken. At rest a lot of engine mounts appear to be fine, and they may not be fine at all. Oils eat the rubber parts and the gloues can break down.
It could be the shroud mounts themselves are bad, missing hardware and etc.
There are several x techs here, I am as well, but dated. I got out after 28 years in 85.. It seems x techs are never really x techs untill death do us part, and after that even I am not too sure.
I just about expect to meet St Pete and he will say , Mac my car makes this noise.
It could be related to the exhaust and its heat shields near the engine. At lower speeds the engine may simply vibrate more and cause aging or weakening exhaust parts to rattle. Exhaust parts often really sound metallic - like a piece of metal banging against something.
With the engine OFF it is safe to turn the fan by hand with one hand.
Careful, if that fan is electric, it is not neccessarily safe even with the engine off but still hot.
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as I know from my past that noises like that can be quite a nuisance.
