I just bought a jade green type s with 43,000 miles. Its completely stock and is in excellent shape except for this noise I noticed after I got it home. It only happens when I'm going slow in 1st or second gear, and iwll also happen with the clutch in or in neutral. It sounds like its coming from the drivers side wheel area, and its like metal on metal pinging or clanging kind of sound. I found a TSB on the intermediate shaft heat sheild, but I banged around on it and I cant seem to replicate the noise.

I've been searching for over a week now, and cant find any other info except that it could be a loose subframe. Not sure how this could happen to a stock car with so few miles, but I'm stumped. Anyone else ever have this problem? Its hard to pinpoint since the car has to be moving to replicate, so someone has to run next to my car to try to hear where its coming from..

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Update on this... I got under the car today and realized I was looking at the wrong heat shield. I took the Intermediate shaft shield completely off and went for a test drive... The noise persists.

I've been trying to find a 'pattern' of the noise.. its kind of hard to replicate other than driving slow in first gear and just waiting. It does seem to do it a bit more when going around turns. Also it will clang a couple of times when taking off or braking it seems. It never happens once i get over about 15-20 mph. I spent over an hour under the car banging around on **** trying to replicate the noise with no luck. I'm considering just taking it to the dealership to see if they can diagnose it.

If anyone has even a remotely possible suggestion let me know.

 

make a video.

 

You know, I was thinking of making a sound file.. perhaps a video would be better. Let me see if I can catch a good sample and post it. I've also tried bending the heat shield behind the brake rotor. It doesn't seem to make the same noise when I bend on it though and it didn't help.. The car practically looks brand new, even from the underside. Its driving me nuts.

I'll see if I can get a good vid behind my office tomorrow.

 

guessing its you cat heat shield....they rust around the 4 mounting points and rattle like a ****....I replaced my wifes heat shield last summer....I strongly suggest you fix it or replace it as if you park over somthing flamable, it will set it on on fire and burn your car to the ground....there is a cheap temp fix for the heat shield, big hose clamps around the heat shield clammping it to the cat....other wise its close to 200 for the 2 shields and the bolts that hold them on( get everything cuz it will all be rusted to peaces)

 

I thought about the cat heat shield and banged on it a bit. It didn't seem like thats what was making the noise + the noise sounds more like its coming from the drivers side wheel area. I'll double check the cat shield though. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

sound can be a strange thing....put the front of the car up and jackstands( put them under the lca's so the suspension is sitting at ride hight) start the car and put it in gear and crawl under there, have a friend rev the motor......unless you want to pay the steelership a arm and a leg to do the same thing.

 

When you can hear it, try to pinpoint where the sound is coming from. Did you check the intake manifold plastic cover? because ive heard complains from a lot of people that they rattle

 

+1

If it is your cat covers and you need them let me know I can get them for cheap

 

Thanks for all the replies, gents. I finally found out what it is. I decided to change the brakes since it sounded like it was coming from the wheel area. I thought maybe a pad was cracked or something crazy.

Once I pulled it all apart, everything looked normal and I was kind of bummed. I went to roll the drivers side wheel over to put it back on and I felt something rolling around inside it. I picked it up and gave it a good shake... CLANG, CLANG... bingo. At the same time my buddy noticed a plug in the tire. Must be a nail or screw that got pushed through and whoever patched it didn't bother to take it out.

I'm so relieved!!

 

haha at least it was an easy fix. i had a rock get stuck under a heat shield from all the snow getting up under the car mixed with the road salt and rocks and i couldnt figure out wtf the noise was and finally found it to be a rock lol

 

+1 for figuring it out!

 

Check if ur sway bar link bolts. They coul be loose

 

^^^

Your name should be #1Can'tReadForShit

 

this. when I bought my car my cat heat shield was making noise. I got a big *** hose clamp and solved the issue.

 

Ahah. I was just about to suggest running a strong magnet through the problem area.
Goodjob finding the noise.

 

I would have never thought it was a nail inside of the tire. Good job finding it. Props.

 

Thx guys.. Yeah it was driving me crazy so I HAD to figure out what it was.. I ended up taking it to a tire shop to get whatever it was out. When I picked it up I asked them what they found and the guy handed me a 4" tapered railroad nail!!!

I'll try to post a pic when I get a chance.

 

ahahaa