There's always some weird noise!

[Luke]

Well, i finally get rid of that timing chain rattle, and now im faced with some other annoying noises. Not too long ago I started noticing one noise kind of like a whistle/hissing. It only happens when i give it some sort of gas, under a load, like while im driving. It doesn't do it stopped in neutral that i can tell. I can't remember totally, but i think it does it more when the car warms up some.

I would be a retard and say it sounds like a turbo, but that's what everyone does when they hear a whistle noise from their car. I have even scared some random people trying to race me on the street and i had another guy asked if i had an sr. haha anyways. I checked around for vacuum leaks real quick, and didn't see any obvious leaks.

Ok, and more recently, i've been noticing a metal rattling under the middle of my car ( i think). What's weird is, it only seems to want to vibrate at constant rpms. Moreso, when the rpms pass by either 3k rpms or 2k rpms, it will do it, and i can hold it like that for a little while, but no where in between. I got under my car and felt/looked for loose heatsheilds and found none. I'm gonna jack it up in the next couple days to get a better look. I did notice that I guess the ground wire that is by the cat is hangin there(from the top of the car, disconnected from the cat, the wire was ripped). I wonder what that has to do with anything hehe.

Anyways, does anyone think that rattle could be an exhaust leak or something? Or maybe a rotted out cat? I've only got 100k miles. And could that whistle be linked to this other noise possibly? I'm looking for some ideas that's all. I also just replaced the water pump, what kind of noises do those make when they aren't working properly (my old one was leaking, i did a good job of replacing it though). Thanks for any help...

[96SEChick]

Originally posted by Luke
Ok, and more recently, i've been noticing a metal rattling under the middle of my car ( i think). What's weird is, it only seems to want to vibrate at constant rpms. Moreso, when the rpms pass by either 3k rpms or 2k rpms, it will do it, and i can hold it like that for a little while, but no where in between. I got under my car and felt/looked for loose heatsheilds and found none. I'm gonna jack it up in the next couple days to get a better look.

This still definitely sounds like heat shields. I have the same noise--I've gotten under my car and tightened every bolt that wasn't rusted solid under there & I still have a little bit of a noise. Nothing feels loose, though. It's just that tiniest bit of loose that causes it to rattle during those RPMs.

The whistling/hissing noise sounds like a vacuum leak. Yours may be so small you can't see it. You may want to go ahead and replace your hoses just in case. 100k is still pretty young for a KA, but it probably requires a bit of maintenance for that stuff.

[Luke]

Thanks for the reply 96SEChick. when i was under there I did poke some rocks or something out of the holes in the heat shields. I was thinkin that a mouse got in there and burned up or something hehe. There's some fuzz/fur in one hole and i was poking out white rocks (bone maybe lol) out of the one after it. I'll have to get a better look.

I have done a ton of maintenance on this thing. I got it back at 92k, i've written a document of all the maintenance things i've done to it, and it filled up over 1 full page at 10pt hehe. I did replace a hose back by the egr which had a big hole in it. But i'm not noticing a power loss like back when i had that hole. I think im gonna get a can of brake parts cleaner and spray the hoses to see if it would stumble (someone suggested this to me)

-also, what's a good place to pick up vacuum hoses. the local pep boys and advance auto parts don't have jack

[Thurazor]

I know this sounds almost too obvious, but are you sure the whistling isn't your air filter (aftermarket if you have it)? If you can hear the whistling even while driving it seems like that would be quite the vacuum leak and I'm surprised it didn't have any idling problems with it. I used to have a vacuum leak from a hose off my throttle body and just by pinching the hose ends you could hear this real faint whistle silence. As for where to find the hoses, I'm surprised they didn't have any at those auto stores. I know my local autozone has them in fairly good size bundles.

[Luke]

I thought about the air filter and I know the normal whistle that makes. This is much more loud and constant. Instead of whistling at a certain point on the throttle, it'll whistle at most throttle positions...

[kalieaire]

when air cleaners get dirty, they make different sounds.

sure it's not a belt squeeking???

[drift into a curb]

I'm getting that hissing too. It started happening two weeks after I installed my LSD. I'm not sure, but my mechanic said it could possibly be the throwout bearing causing noises and it is transmitted the vibration to the driveshaft (or some input bearing). Won't know exactly until I get it done, but that's the info I got today after he drove my car.

[Luke]

Ok i removed the entire heat sheild on the downpipe after the exhaust manifold and before the cat. No more rattle.

Now I'm going to try to figure out that whistle. I'm going to try replacing belts and all vacuum hoses i can find. Anyone know where most problematic vacuum hoses are? I'm doing most of the ones by the EGR behind the intake manifold.. what else should i look at?