I have had a rattle for about a month. At first I thought it was my heat shields so I paid no attention. I removed my last two shields two weeks ago. Then I noticed another, intermittent rattle. Seeming to coming from the engine bay at around 2.5k. Sometimes there is a squeel, but this is rare.

Today I did a valve adjustment. I was praying for a loose adjustment nut, or some simple explanation. Everything in the head looked good.

After my adjustment I let the engine warm up at idle. I reved the engine with the hood open and got the rattle. My engine has 64k on it and runs fine besides the noise.

What in the bottom end could rattle? The noise started shortly after I got my new tranny, but I don't think it is the transmission. I have noticed no problems shifting with it. Since it happens when the car is not moving it would be limited to the input shaft I think.

How much will a rebuild of the bottom end cost me, and how long does it normally take? I want ImportBuilders to do it if it comes down to this.

Lastly, I need a good mechanic/engine builder that could help diagnose this in the Los Angeles area. I will send IB an email. I am not sure if they will do this kind of work or not. My mechanic could not do this type of work.

I have spent too much money on my car in the last few months. I don't know what I will do if the engine is blown. I may have to buy a bucket and stick my baby in the garage for a few months.

 

BTW, my transmission has a 90 day warranty from the company that I got it from. If it is the tranny I would love that, but it does not look promising right now. Also today when the car is at idle and I turn the steering wheel, the rpms drop and I can hear the rattle.

 

Is the noise coming from your distributor maybe?

 

Does not sound like it is. Today I did more testing. I don't think it is an engine problem after all. First of all I would think you should hear an engine noise even at idle right? I tried driving around the neighborhood. Drove at 6k in second, no noise.

I am going to pull off the dc and put the OEM header back on just in case it is causing the rattle. That is the only thing that I have not checked. When I changed the clutch a few months ago I noticed a spot where there was apparent rubbing on top of the header. Maybe one to many drive ways have managed to actually bend the header so it is in contact with my oil pan constantly.

I feel better now that I have a little hope

 

you have a short shifter? sometimes it can contact your exhaust. or sometimes there's the heatshield above the cat also.

btw who is that in your avatar? is that hannah?

 

check the distributor, get a long flat head screw driver, and put the metal end on the distributor right in front of the valve cover, and put the other end in your ear, then have a friend rev up your car, and listen for a bad bearing in their, if that's the case, you will have to get another distributor housing, and swap out the guts. i am getting a new one this week, b/c of this problem. i thought mine was valves forever but, finally figured it out.

 

I will check the distributor. This weekend I will put my stock header back on. I guess If that fixes it I will get a 4-2-1 from comptech probably. I totally forgot about the screw driver stethescope trick. Last time I did that was probably 6 or 7 years ago

In7egrity: That is Hannah. It is a pic I took in January of this year. The picture is not that great since it was taken with the camera from work. I had not bought my digicam at the time. Here are the pics of Hannah from that show. http://vteg.mine.nu/gallery/view_alb...album12&page=4

 

Just an idea....
My CAI rattled at the same RPM range right after I installed it.

 

I had this same rattle with my distributor 97 LS. I bought a used 99 LS distributor and swapped mine out, but I still get the rattling sound from the distributor and the bracket that is on the head that mates the distributor. I get my valves adjusted every 15,000-30,000 miles. I have no clue what is rattling. I have not removed the valve cover to analyze anything. Typically, the rattle goes away when the car is fully warm.