Disco 2 Rattle

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2003 D2 Td5 Auto

Okay, have put up with this tinny rattling sound (like sound of vibrating piece of sheet metal) for weeks now - certainly not loud and unable to hear anything at all when inside the vehicle. No vibration, and no effects on performance or driving. Sound "seems" to come from the passenger side front (low down and towards rear) of the engine bay.

Have been attending to other matters, so let it be and did other things around the house and attended to other cars when I had time.

I was thinking! I was pulling the trailer several months ago and at one point I got stuck and reversed out of a very tight spot - the trailer almost jack-knifed. I noticed later that a chunk of plastic/rubber had been taken out of the trailer jockey wheel. I surmised that the end of the exhaust pipe had gouged out this chunk from the wheel. Was that what started the tinny rattle? Stress on the exhaust system? The noise pretty much coincided with this event in retrospect.

Anyway, had a look at the exhaust system in RAVE for a Td5 and noticed it shows two silencers/mufflers with four rubber mounts. About time I looked again, so put her up on stands at the front and went under. Checked the exhaust from front to back - not like shown in RAVE schematic for a Td5 though! The four rubber mounts are there, but I have a small silencer at the front, then a larger silencer, and then another small silencer (three silencers/mufflers in total) before the tail pipe.

The pipe can move a bit (1 inch or so) when I hold it/shake it underneath, but I guess it's supposed to do that - the four rubber mounts are intact and seem to work well. There are two heat shrouds in place to stop heat radiating upwards - they can be moved up and down, but I don't think they would be producing the noise?

The front passenger side wheel arch looks/feels fine (inspection hatches) - nothing loose!

Not front brake mud guards. Not turbo heat shield.

Will maybe open that little inspection hatch with the three bolts on the bell housing - something in there I should be looking at? (Torque converter is in there I believe?)

Will just have to keep looking/listening! No more ideas?

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Nothing there?

I had a tinny rattle which turned out to be the exhaust heatshield, tended to be when under load.

Spong said:

I had a tinny rattle which turned out to be the exhaust heatshield, tended to be when under load.

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Well, the turbo heat shield is rock solid - even removed it and put it back on. Coming from down lower somewhere - exhaust looks in great shape and there are four connectors with the rubber dampers - all intact! The concertina section just below the turbo looks good as well. The exhaust system can be moved when you hold it, but I'm assuming that's why it has four rubber mounts?

The heat shields? They can move up and down - are they supposed to be rock steady?

Could it perhaps be the water pump? Tinny rattling sound (like loose piece of sheet metal? I do have a slight cooling leak (see post under Oil Cooler).

Have you tried turning the radio up? This is what I do. Eventually, you forget about the rattle or summat will actually fall off, either way, problem solved.

Col

The heat shield underneath shouldn't move, it's fixed to the car. Mine had a couple of nuts come loose.

yes my heat shield was loose too, up in the centre above the exhaust, sod to get new nuts and washers on, but once on no more rattle

Spong said:

The heat shield underneath shouldn't move, it's fixed to the car. Mine had a couple of nuts come loose.

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Checked all along the exhaust and could find no issues that would be causing the tinny rattle. The exhaust system is different to that shown in RAVE - there are two cylindrical silencers before and after the main large silencer - shown below with the heat shield above:



The heat shield is held with two bolts and does move up and down a bit - but don't think that is the source of the rattle as nothing is broken on it and the bolts are tightly secured (even though the shield can move up and down when you press it).

As mentioned on another thread - the rattle was being caused by a very slight misalignment with the a/c compressor pulley and clutch!!! New clutch, resurfaced pulley and new a/c coil - a/c now perfect and the annoying rattle has gone to boot!!!

Intestinalworm said:

As mentioned on another thread - the rattle was being caused by a very slight misalignment with the a/c compressor pulley and clutch!!! New clutch, resurfaced pulley and new a/c coil - a/c now perfect and the annoying rattle has gone to boot!!!

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Glad you finally sorted it! Just goes to show, you changed the belt and the rattle started, ergo that was where the rattle was coming from summat connected to the belt.
It was suggested you run the engine for a short while without the belt, that should have shown this up. Did you in fact do that?