WEIRD NOISE ON START UP

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

i dont know how to explain this but will do my best .hope it makes some sense in the end.

for the last few weeks ,i was hearing this funny noise .it was coming from under the bonnet and was sounding like the heater fan but obviously was not as the heater was in off position . now this went of for few weeks and finally today i heard this other funny noise when i start the car up . it was unusual ,the car did not hesiatate to start up but there was this sound which i cant explain and believe that was related to the start up.
i will open the bonnet tomorrow and will have a good look around . any good ideas ,advices will be appreciated a lot

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

eh? what did it sound like?

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

starter motor.

I assume the noise is like a slight grating when the keys let go?

Starters fill up with all sorts of crap on these cars. Stripping them down and cleaning them out gets them spinning faster and silently.

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

this is somethign i plan to do to mine when i get it out.....if i ever get round to it.......george did it once didnt he? shame didnt take pics, would make an ideal article

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

yes george took it apart thats right. He never fixed anything, with George you need to basically realise he has no clue and blags his way about everything.

I done it the other week on project Y. Its not hard a trained monkey could do it.

I may be kind and dig a spare starter out and take it apart for an article if I feel helpfull.

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

thanks god for that , i finally managed to open this website on my pc

anyway,further investigation . no noise on start up now ,i think that was just a one of thing last night.
i started the engine up today and had a look under the bonnet to see where that whining noise is coming from .it sounded like something turning was making the noise and the noise was coming around the aux belt area .so i focused on the pulleys ,took the aux drive belt(which i fitted a month and a half ago) turned all the pulleys ,they were all turning nice and sounding nice.

as i did not exactly know where the noise was coming from i thought it might be the timing belt this time as its just by the aux belt .the timing belt has been changed about 5-6k miles ago when i first bought the car .any ideas on that? i am not having any running problems by the way ,its just that unusual noise bugging me .may be i shall just wait and see what goes wrong .

by the way the clutch is totaly buggered ,no problems chaging the gears but ,it can not hold high revs and i think its slipping a lot if that is related to the noise somehow.
i heard that the starter motor is located by the gearbox but could not see where it is .how hard would it be to change if the problem happens to be the starter.

here is another thing might be related with the problem i had yesterday.the ignition has that feeling like the steering wheel is locked even though its not lately . but got to try a few times to make sure .
cheers

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

get a new ignition barrel, scrappies is the place to go. Dodgy ones can lock the wheel when ont he motorway etc. you don't want that.

Startes easy enough to change, if you look in project Y you can see where its located.

take the aux belt off and start the car if the noise is there still then it will be the cambelt/idle/tensioner if the noise is from there.

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

not going on the mototrway that often (once in a month may be ) so i will check on the ignition for a while and see if thats the problem.can i stick some wd40 in to the ignition through the key hole ???? or would it be useless???

now about the cambelt /idle/tensioner thingy ,i am a bit worried cause when i had the new cambelt fitted a year a go .i realised they have not fitted the timing belt cover bolts properly ,one of them was nearly falling off so i tightened them a bit.but my point here is that ,they might have done a cack job under the timing belt cover as well . can i just take the cover out and observe the timing belt running ????? or is that too dangerous for a welshman with almighty power???

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

goign rounf a a roundabout then turning off an dthen the steering locking can kill you/someone else just as easy.

Take the cover off and have a look. If the belt has any damage then get it renewed and get new idler/tensioners as well. Also if the belts floppign about it will need sorted.

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

it sounds like its going to be rather costly for me ,dammit Evil or Very Mad

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

is it possible that the water pump is making the noise due to a ferked bearing ?
and most importantly would the bearing be changed on its own rather than changing the whole water pump ?
cheers

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

new pumps under 20 quid. But a pump wopuld make the noise all the time really.

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

had a good look today ,took the aux belt out and turned the pulleys again .i noticed water pump and power steering pump pulleys are not turning as easy and smooth as the alternator . but there are no funny noises .got behind all the pulleys and sprayed wd40 on them . while the aux belt iwas out i wanted to have a look at the timing belt as well (not that i would be able to spot anything unusual )

took these 3 bolts out of the cover ,they are all different sizes and i wonder why ???

this one was even more weird ,is this the original bolt ????

here is the belt ,is it normal to be like that ? (the belt is not sitting at the edge of the pulley)

after all the noise seem to have gone ,so i can hear nothing else but the bloody tappets .(i would be well happy with an article on how to adjust them )

Laughing

while i was out i have sprayed some wd40 on the rear dampers and i just had to guess where to spray it as the pics in the tech article are quite poorly . but i also discovered thats not the easiest thing to take the picture off due to poor light cond.
so could someone confirm that i have sprayed the wd40 to the right point (top of the damper) ?????

cheers,

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

timing belt looks fine.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

firstly lol thats the rear dampers! You have sprayed wd-40 at nothing except the rubber bush at the top. Its the front strut bearings you need to spray.

Anyway its not reasy getting pics is it, even harder when using a phone!

The bolt is the wrong one, it looks like a dohc head bolt that allows the cover to be bolted on between the cams! Looks like someone have the cover off and used the wrong bolts to stick it on.

The cambelt should run in the middle of the pulley so it will be set back a bit from the edge but that looks a bit to much.

You need to see the back edge of the belt, if its frayed or anythign get it sorted asap.

Like I said about the tappets on the F type engines you need to either get the special tool or remove the camshaft. Only the 1.4/1.6's are easily adjustable.

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

fair enough , i have been quite tight spraying the wd40 which is not too bad in the end ehh.

the cowboys at the garage where they changed the timing belt a year ago must have messed the bolts up..i dont even think that bolt belongs to my car at all.

how can i see the back edge of the belt than chris ? as you can see on the picture ,i did not take the whole cover out cause i knew it was going to b hard to put it back as the 4th bolt holding the cover does not give me much space to work . but will get it out some time to see whats happening .

i am quite allright with noisy tappets as long as they dont damage anything??

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

noisy tappets shouldn't do any damage. Just change the oil when you are supposed to.

There should be a small windo on the back of the rear cover which should let you see into the back of the belt.

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

the oil will need changing soon to be honest ,i have done about 5k miles with the new oil allready .
would some quality syntetic oil (magnatec etc) help reduce the tappet noise and give better protection as i got over 180k on the clock ?

will check the window you are on about ,but quite sure there is not one

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

any decent oil will do. As long as its changed often even crap oil will do the job.

The windows just a hole in the backof the cover.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

Chris H wrote:

get a new ignition barrel, scrappies is the place to go.

take the aux belt off and start the car if the noise is there still then it will be the cambelt/idle/tensioner if the noise is from there.

My phase 1 has developed a nasty rattle, and like schakal's, appears to be coming from the alternator, water pump, cam belt area.

The noise sounds like a marble has been thrown in there and is bouncing about, no loss of performance, idle is fine, temp is fine (a little low maybe)

I'll take off the aux belt tomorrow and give it another listen

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

sounds like a tensioner if its like a marble rolling aorund