rattle

[slim]

over the last week or 2 i`ve noticed an intermitent rattle coming from the f/o/s of the engine.due to the great bank holiday weather we`re having i`ve not been able to have a look.has anyone got any idea what it could be or where i should start looking.

[s4_rider]

* exhaust heatshields ?

[Ski]

my exhaust shield has been rattling for 3 yrs now.. it only vibrates at high revs in neutral or first gear :/

[slim]

i have been able to get the front bumper off and the noise is coming from the crankshaft pulleys.when the engine is running if you look down past the rads it looks as if the pulley is spinning off centre.when i bought the car the guy told me he had a bump on the front end which caused superficial damage to the bumper.on closer inspection it looks like it has a new intercooler.could this pulley have been bent slightly due to the bump,if so are they easy to come by and to replace.the most annoying thing is that the noise comes and goes but you can bet 10 bob to a pinch of pig $hite that it`ll come on when there is someone i know there and the first thing they say is "sound`s abit rough don`t it". if anyone has had this happen to them please let know what to do.

[SteveH]

If the pulley isn't running true I'd get that looked at sooner rather than later. If you need to buy a new one they are silly money. Luckily, they're not hard to find second hand. It's usually the sprocket on the rear of the pulley that needs to be replaced. These are about £25 GBP from the stealers. The woodruff key built into them has a tendancy to shear off! If your lucky the high torque of the bolt holding the pulley to the crank will prevent the alignment of the pulley and crank from moving. If you're unlucky...bang

A problem I've seen a few times and witnessed personally, is the crank bolt working loose. This leads to damage to the nose of the crank and damage to the face and key in the rear cambelt sprocket. If it's either of these you should get it looked at as soon as possible.
In my case the problem was caused by a loose crank bolt, it was pretty much finger tight by the time I came to remove it for a routine belt replacement I couldn't believe my luck, it must have been days or possibly hours away from falling off. While it was spinning around and lightly clamped to the crank, it sheared the woodruff key off the sprocket and damaged the nose of the crank. Now, my car has taken a bump to the front in the past; the orginal 3B intercooler had a pulley shaped mark on it. I don't know if this had an influence on the pulley coming loose, or whether it was due to a poorly torqued crank bolt on it's last service. Either way, it nearly trashed the motor. I also seen and read post of a few other S2's that have had problems with the cambelt crank sprocket, it's usually a sheared key on the sprocket. If you can see it's more than just a bend to the outside edge of the pulley face, get it checked out..

[slim]

cheers SteveH,i`m booking it in next week at my local specialist.it`s the rattle thats had me puzzled as it can come and go regardless of how it`s been driven or how far.