Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting should I be worried?

I have a low mileage duratech contour (104k kilometers) and have since I could remember always heard a certain raspy noise coming from the passenger side of the motor at idle, approx 3/4 seconds apart. It has started to become worrysome for me as I wouldnt mind the thing lasting another year. I have performed searches on this and have not found anything I think is related. Mind you im not that mechanically inclined. My question would be.. Is this normal or could it have something to do with the belts or timing chain? Listening up close it seems to be eminating from the left/rear of the motor.

i believe that's the lack of oil in the timing chain part on startup, the only way to help stop it it's to intstall an oil accumulator, or add a little more oil in the engine, but with the amount of miles you have on your car, i would guess your car to last more than a year with that noise without any problems, it's more of a nusance than a problem. but hell i could be wrong, just wait for someone else to reply to this thread with a better answer.

This is a constant noise, not just on startup. I can hear it more prominently at a drivethru as it echoes of the wall. Maybe its a normal noise?

oh sorry i missread your story, in that case i would maybe look into it deeper. sorry for the confusion.

thanks for the reply Paul.. Yeah just wondering if I should take it into the stealership to get bent over for a diagnostic or not. Cars coming due for lots of wear n tear work soon. If the motors gonna pooch on me im not gonna bother.

well i would wait to see if anybody else here is going to come up with a answer, if not i would maybe get someone to look at it just to see what's the problem.

It could just be the belt tensioner pulley or the idler wheel pulley above it which are in the location you describe. Mine were noisy on my V6 Mystique. You could buy a mechanics stethescope to listen to the idler bearings at Sears. Possibly the alternator could be noisy. (Make sure your waterpump has been changed, to a metal impeller pump, a common failure, but not your noise)

thanks for the replies. Took the car into the local crappy tire yesterday for an a/c charge and an oil change. Find out the a/c clutch is seized and now the engine is ticking lightly. Think im probably going to get the thing looked at and get the uim/lim cleaned up. Funny thing is the car still runs great.

Ticking....? Be worried.