Rattling Engine

[Anonymous]

Although I've posted this on Spyderchat, none of our stateside friends have replied....   s:| :| s:|  

Has anyone got a rattling engine?  At idle, my engine rattles as if the valves were hitting the rocker cover on the engine or something.  It's not a dull knocking noise, but quite tinny.  The noise is still there at high revs, but obviously road and engine noise masks out somewhat.

At first I thought this was normal, as my mum's 1.3 Yaris makes a similar noise although no as pronounced.  This was until I went cruising with 2 other roadsters and heard that their engines made no such noise.

I've since taken it to the dealers (Beadles, Maidstone) but they've said they won't have a look at it until my 20k service.  The reckon that the cams may not have been packed properly with the correct spacers....

[Liz]

I had the same sort of rattle when it was idling - took two Mr T dealers to ascertain that it was the V Belt tensioner - apparently the rubber part inside can get perforated and it is the air inside that makes a tapping noise. HTH

[Anonymous]

So, did the trip to Mr T sort it out?  Was it the V-belt tensioner?

I'll have to get mine checked out.  It sounds like a 20 year old car than a 1 year old car at the moment!

Cheers, Martin

[Liz]

Yes it did, mine was the v-belt tensioner - sounded awful - like it had a really bad tappet problem. The first dealer I took it to - lad of about 17 came out and had a listen, sniffed and said it was meant to sound like it - I took it back to the dealer I purchased it from - started the engine and the service manager told me what it was before I even opened the engine bay, all done under warranty of course - about a 30 min job

[GSB]

Had the same problem, I thought that perhaps I had a bit of valve gear rattle, it used to clatter like an old ford crossflow at idle sometimes, but I had the tensioner replaced at the 20K service and it seems to have sorted the problem out now.

[Anonymous]

I also had this problem when the car was 2 or 3 months old. I mentioned it in passing to the sales manager whoc called out the head mechanic and said..."Get it fixed" It was ´done the next day. Super
service.

[Anonymous]

 s:shock: :shock: s:shock:   sounds like it's a common problem!

thanx!  will be giving my local Mr T's a hard time if they don't sort it out at my 20k.  My car sounds exactly how Liz has described it.  It's quite embaressing when you pull up at traffic lights and your car sounds as if there is a 20yr Ford engine under the hood!