Rattle/ticking noise from engine bay - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

ganda1f · 10-07-2005, 12:03 PM

The problem is on a '94 Corolla 1.6l 4AFE engine with 160 000 km on it. The noise coming from the engine bay is something like rattle/ticking, kind of "ts ts ts ts ts ts ts". It disappears when the engine gets warmed up. It comes only under load. For example, if you pop the hood and turn the headlights on (especially high beam), the sound is there. Switch to just parking lights, it's gone. Same sound can be heard while driving, during just a slight acceleration. The really weird thing is though, that the sound does NOT change as the engine speed changes. First I thought it might be some bearings in the generator or something, that sounded like source of the sound. But then the sound should change as the engine speed changes, right? Any ideas? What moving parts are maintaining their speed regardless of the engine speed? Power-steering? Timing belt can generate similar sound but it was changed some 20 000 km ago. Power-steering is making a "piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii"

sound when the wheels are turned all the way.

tashirosgt · 10-07-2005, 01:25 PM

You have a real mystery there. What the frequency of the ticks? 2 per second? 4 per second?
Are your engine mounts good? I've heard people use a pry bar near the mount to check how this affects the vibrations. It seems to me you could very gently support the oil pan or transmission with a board on a jack and see if this stopped the ticks. Even if the mounts are good, something might be rubbing when the engine moves. Use a short length of pipe or broomstick as a stethoscope against parts of the engine and see if you can get a fix on it.

snspar · 10-07-2005, 02:36 PM

My car was making similar sound and later found that there is not enough supply of engine oil. Check your engine oil level and fill it.

ganda1f · 10-08-2005, 06:07 AM

Not the engine oil. Level is good plus it was changed 3 months ago and the problem was still there, always use fully synthetic Mobil1. When it comes to frequency of the sound i'd say it's somewhere around 10 ticks/second..

joeaaay · 10-11-2005, 11:43 PM

I have the same problem with my 97 Corolla. It might just be the ignition of the sparkplugs...
The sound I have is more of a tk, tk, tk, tk.

ganda1f · 10-12-2005, 09:57 AM

I will check out the spark plugs. I don't have time to do it right now though. Let me know if it helps joeaaay. I didn't suspect the spark plugs since the sound does NOT change as the engine speed changes, but hey it's definitely worth a try.

Flashmn · 10-12-2005, 10:04 AM

Might be the injectors.

steve97 · 10-12-2005, 08:57 PM

I know that same sound in the Camry is the timing belt smacking into the side of the cover. Then once things warm up, the sound goes away. Need a new belt tensioner spring.

ganda1f · 10-13-2005, 11:25 AM

The Camry you are talking about, it has a V6 right? Cause as far as I know
the inline 4 doesn't have that much slack on the timing belt that it could
actually go against the cover. I could be wrong though, it's just a
general info about differences between V6 and inline 4.
Anyway, if it really is the belt hitting the cover, is it possible to feel it from the outside?

Flashmn · 10-13-2005, 11:49 AM

Maybe, but the engine has so much vibration it might be difficult.

ganda1f · 10-14-2005, 02:29 AM

Found the source of the sound. It's the power-steering pump. Checked the fluid level (cold engine) and it was right in the middle of the cold area so that should be okay. Also the sound is more noticeable while turning the steering wheel, so it's got to be the power-steering pump. The water pump is right next to it so I thought it could also be it, but I ruled that out since the sound changes while turning the steering wheel. The car was not moving when I tried this so the power-steering had a little extra load. The pump is not vibrating or anything. Bearings? Any ideas?

ganda1f · 12-07-2005, 01:23 PM

It turned out that the noise was coming from the belt driving the power-steering pump. The belt was just dry and maybe a little loose. Lubed it a couple of times and tightened somewhat. The sound is almost gone now. The "piiiiiiiiiiiiii"-sound when turning the wheels all the way was caused by the other belt slipping on the pulley from engine's crankshaft. Guess I'll change the belts when I get some spare time. Thanks for all the advice. Especially the "stethoscope". I could sleep a whole lot better

when I found out that it weren't my valves that were rattling.