Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting rattling from belt side of engine

Okay, I'm a little lost.

I think it's the idler pulley, but I cannot confrim this. The sound gets louder as I accelerate, but I'm not sure if it's the really one of the pulleys or maybe the timing chains rattling. The car is only down half a quart of oil in four thousand miles, and the performance of the engine has not degraded at all. it's just the sound of something about to rattle off the car as the RPM's increase. No CEL's, no leaks, no shaking of any pulleys are you watch the motor idle. The chains and tensioners as well as the belt tensioner are all original to the old 2.5L, but the 3.0 block is only 12,500 miles old. I'm afraid to think of the worse, like cams wearing away, timing chains and tensioners going bad, or the crank/rods hopping, or piston slap. anyone have any ideas?

my se started out with noises...rattling, metallic noises from the pulley side...after looking around for awhile i discovered that my idler pully was sliding out (away from the engine) from under the belt...after getting that fixed the rattle was still there..i've now traced the noise to my ac pulley

meanwhile im being told by the local mis-dealer that my engine seems to have a worn tensioner on one bank...its way off timing

does shoshop give any kind of warranty??

To rule out pulleys, pull the serp. belt off and run the engine. If the noise is still there, its not any pulley. If it disappears, start suspecting the idler or tensioner first (the cheaper ones to replace), then go after the accessories.

yes, SHOshop does do warranty, but they only replaced the motor, everything else is original to the 2.5L. so I'm pretty sure that won't help me out. It's hard to trace, because I cannot here it oustide of the car, but I've also get home late, and I don't want to piss off my neighbors by revving the crap out of my car late at night.....I'm going to try this morning.

I never thought about that, thanks for the idea.

I've been getting the same rattling since about 25k miles (car now has 58k on it). Starts intermittently around 3500 rpm, although sometimes less if the engine is loaded and i'm accelerating. I recently replaced the serp belt, and all the pulleys seemed fine. I was thinking that it could possibly be loose butterfly valves on the secondaries, and was going to take a look when I change the plugs out before winter.

-Chris
2000 SE Sport

I still need a little help. The sound is there, whether the belt is on or off. Doesn't seem as bad as when the belt is on, but it's still there. The sound is also there whether the engine is on or off, but only there when the car is rolling. The car needs to be shaken lightly over ripples on the asphalt to produce the noise. I've removed the swaybar link, upper stress bar, but the noise persists. My gut instinct still tells me it's a pulley, but I still haven't been able to confirm this. Is it possible that it's the header coming loose? It's driving me crazy, as the car's driveability hasn't changed.

On a side note, the idler pulley rolls freely, but seems to be rough when spinning.

this is gonna sound crazy, but that sounds like the bearings in your pulley are gone...lol

you know my tour does that too. i drove thru a puddle one night and my charge light came on and the belt started squeeling and then it stopped but the next day i started it up and heard that rattling noise. ive lubed the pullies and it still does it. i was told the belt may be bad but it could be the bearings in the pulley being worn too. not sure really . ive just learned to ignore it. now is it more of a squeeking noise than a rattle and are you sure its coming from the engine bay? the front bumpers do a rattle/squeeking noise and all you have to do is check to see whats rubbing and slam some wd40 on that bad boy. if its not that then let me know. im in the same boat w/you.

Okay, here's the update. After driving the car around for a few more days, I finally got the car up on jackstands. I just started hitting around the belt-side of the motor, and I worked my way onto the motor mount. A slight rattle came from it, so I asked my wife to hit it while I sat inside the car. A rattle very similiar to what I've been hearing came through. I took apart the mount, and the frame side of the mount (it's three pieces), the one with the rubber isolator in it, has a rattle. Something appears to hve broken off inside. So my car is up on stands right now, awaiting me to order a new mount. I hope to install it on Wednesday (my next day off). I will report an update at that point. Thanks to all so far for the help!