I posted about this a long time ago, but now I have video so now maybe one of you guys can help me out.

http://www.pixelogics.com/tmp/tC/noise2.mov

The dealership finally did a diagnostic and ended up taking out my engine and tranny but they didn't fix anything. They thought it was in the clutch area and wouldn't investigate any further because there's an aftermarket clutch and flywheel installed. The weird thing is that the noise was there with the stock parts as well and didn't go away after the change.

When the engine gets hot, and the radiator fan comes on, you can hear a vibrating under the hood - you can hear it really well if you put your ear down by the front drivers side wheel (where the video was taken from). The noise is very noticable when you're at idle from the outside after driving around awhile. (My dealer said "What's that noise??") You can hear it inside the car when you're at a stop light or otherwise at idle. It gets quieter or stops when you turn the air conditioner off. It stops when you go, but I figured that was because the vibrating just ramps up with the RPMs and engine gets louder.

 

wow WTF!! I'd say lemon law it and get a new one...that doesnt sound good at all, not to mention embarassing when people are near your car and it's new. I hope all goes well with your situation.

 

Yeah, that's horrible sounding, I'm sorry you have to listen to that every day.

 

big mistake, you should have put back your stock clutch and flywheel before going to the dealer. But i think there's a law about warranty that they must prove it that the aftermarket parts is the cause of the problem before voiding the warranty.

 

I've heard a few terms like "throw-out bearing" tossed around. I don't know. It's not as loud as in the video - that's just where the mic was. The guy at the dealership wasn't a jerk or anything - he just said since there are aftermarket parts in there, there's nothing he can go after Toyota for to have them fix or replace anything.

 

Did you check the fly-wheels and belts to make sure tension is good and everythings tightened. The airconditioner and radiator fan run off of a shared pully i believe so might check that.

 

Yup, tension is all good there. That noise really kicks in when that belt kicks on.

 

dealers can tend to be um, a**holes.

I went to get some rattled in my hatch fixed and they wound'nt look at it because I had an aftermarket deck in my car.

Sounds like a fan. The sound is cyclical so it coming from something thats spinning or attached to something that's spinning in the engine bay.

 

does it make the sound when you push in the clutch pedal also? if it was related to a throw out bearing, i don't think it would.

check for clearance around the fan...maybe they were refering to a bearing in the motor of the fan that has gone bad...

 

Yeah it could be a radiator fan.... It's a regular-speed knock so it means something has to be hitting.. you don't have any dangling wiring or anything that could be in the radiator fan area, do you?

 

It does go away when you press the clutch in. It's not a fan - it's coming from inside the engine somewhere. I'm guessing throw out bearing. It's the one thing that hasn't been checked. (Toyota ripped out the engine and got to the clutch area and then STOPPED - argh.)

 

Reminds me of my Z32 300zx, never really found the problem but kinda narrowed it down to throwout bearing or clutch slave cylinder. Same thing, if you push the clutch in the sound would go away. We also had a bleed spot on top of the right fender, if i bleed it a little the sound would go away also. It was strange, from re-bleeding, to swaping out cylinders i gave up.

 

Oh great. Well, I hope I can find this problem. It's the single most irritating thing in my life right now.

 

What kind of noise, tick, rattle, thud, thunk, etc etc....

Ryan
Gregs japanese auto
Seattle Washington Stewart St.

 

Video in first post (see first post)