rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

has anyone experienced this ? drove car home, no problems. drove it like it was my wifes sentra, plus it was raining. so not wringing the thing out. got home, shut car down, next morning started car to go to work, and it sounds like something is loose inside. next day off, I pulled the valve cover on the passenger side, and all is well. I didn't see anything loose or off. checked each and every rocker, all were tight, no slop. so now I have pulled the front of the engine down, what a pain in the rear. best guess is the tensioner. any thoughts on this ?:wtf:

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

Have had a rattling noise from the passenger side before!!
However once I removed the wife from the passenger seat the rattling stopped!!

Good luck with your fix!!

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

^ LOL

Just keep turning up the music volume until the rattling sound goes away.
_

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

Many things to check, many below I have had happen to me... without hearing, not sure if it is internal or external

1. AC clutch wear; craziest one ever. When AC was on, rattle went away, off and that clutch was spinning making all kinds of nasty rattle noises.
2. Tensioner going bad
3. bearing on a pulley going bad
4. guide on the cam chains falling apart / breaking
5. (super bad rattle) dropping valve seat, was not fully dropped but in 5 miles, it did... it was real bad.. new pistons and head work...

Yea, all of those have happened to me over the 14+ years of ownership. :)

1. check the water pump
2. if you think it is external, take the belt off and check all pulleys, etc. look for to much play.

good luck

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

sounded like it was not getting oil to the passenger side. I pulled the valve cover, and turned the engine over. Plenty of oil pressure. ok, so then I pulled the whole front of the engine, and replaced the tensioner on the passenger side. what a pain in the rear. I had to remove the whole brake master/hydro boost, clutch cable, pedal assembly...etc. I'd just rather take a beating.

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

car is almost back together, hope that I fixed it. should know upon start up:OUCH:

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

But you never saw anything during tear down?

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

Good luck, hope it's fixed also.

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

nope, everything was where it was supposed to be. no slop, nothing broken, nothing loose. IDK...only thing I can compare it to is a stuck lifter, or chain slap. so I can rule out lifters. I pulled all the plugs, pulled fuse for the fuel pump, had a friend spin the engine over while I checked every lifter and rocker. plenty of oil pressure, and good lube over rockers and cams. it was just like a light switch. one day working just fine, the next, broken....:wtf:

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

If you start it up and still there; remove the belt and start it back up and see if the noise goes away. (don't leave it running for long obviously, heat, etc) Maybe pinpoint location.

good luck

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

no luck, got car together and rattle remains. its got to be a lifter. so, off with the valve cover, again. this time I'm going to pull all the plugs, and pull the fuel pump fuse, and spin the engine over and re-check all the rockers. I have asked several Ford mechanics and they havent had this happen. so, once again, going to dive into this head first. :wall:

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

is there a way to post video from my phone to this thread ?

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

Have you already eliminated the possibility of it being the sepentine belt tensioner like TKat13 ^ mentioned?

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

yes, it is not coming from the tensioner. nor the a/c compresser. I'm going to try and upload a video.

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

ok, valve cover off. plugs removed, fuel pump fuse pulled. turned engine over for about 15 seconds. oil aplenty....nothing loose or broken. oil coming out of lash adjusters just fine, timing chain picking up oil, no problems. had my friend turn over engine while I put a long, skinny screw driver on each and every rocker arm. zero slop. I'm going to try some Marvel Mystery Oil, and see if it helps. when the engine is turning over, it is not making a sound. however, as soon as it is running it sounds like it has a collapsed lifter.

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

Is the rattle in time with engine speed? Have you done any maintenance or mods lately?

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

its terminal. blown head gasket.

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

My head gasket is blown as well, but no noises. Time for a teardown.

I am assuming you did a leak down test?

Re: rattling noise from passenger side of engine
 

What would take a weekend on a Fox body to diagnose and repair can take weeks on these things.

I'm in the same boat. Hurt the original motor and decided to freshen a spare motor and drop that in while I took my time on the original motor. Then ended up getting mired in some of the details on the spare motor build :Flame:

Good luck with the fix.