Thread: Your Assistance is Needed...Again

Can someone please tell me what the hell all these noises are and what I need to worry about (fix)?


VIDEO0001.mp4 video by kingm1 - Photobucket

I do have an Open Cone Intake mounted on the throttle body, and I can take a longer video IF that will help better.

Bad pulley shouldnt be too much of a hassle to fix financially. How worried should I be if the noise is from the injector or valvetrain?

My car makes a similar noise and it is the main belt tensioner. I agree with the previous posters--first thing to do is pull the SC belt and see if the noise goes away. If it does, the problem is in the SC or the SC belt tensioner. Mine did not go away, so I went with step 2 which is the mechanics stethoscope previously mentioned. You can stick it on all the pulleys (or injectors, etc.) until you find the one that is making the noise. Mine happens to be the main belt tensioner, and it sounds similar to your noise. I think these are about $100, but I have not gotten around to fixing mine yet. It is not going to hurt anything if that is what it is.

BTW: I got my stethoscope years ago at Harbor Freight. They are on sale right now for like $4, and they are always sending out coupons for 20% off of any purchase: Mechanic's Stethoscope.

Originally Posted by Remnant King

I do have an Open Cone Intake mounted on the throttle body, and I can take a longer video IF that will help better.

Bad pulley shouldnt be too much of a hassle to fix financially. How worried should I be if the noise is from the injector or valvetrain?

Well, as for the injectors you dont need to worry at all, they make a ticking noise under normal conditions, as stated above.

If it's a lifter tick, Seafoam is supposed to cure that.. I know it fixed a noisy valvetrain on my old Grand Am.

Originally Posted by FriboRage

Well, as for the injectors you dont need to worry at all, they make a ticking noise under normal conditions, as stated above.

If it's a lifter tick, Seafoam is supposed to cure that.. I know it fixed a noisy valvetrain on my old Grand Am.

Since you brought it up (and it is somewhat related), are you talking about pouring the seafoam in with the engine oil I take it? Is it recommended to leave it in the oil, or do you pour it in right before an oil change and just run it a few miles? I have also seen this used as a top end cleaner by putting it through a vacuum line into the intake, but have heard we can't do that on our cars as it will hurt the blower. How do we do this on our cars?

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread...

I have heard that seafoam is good, and putting in the gas tank can also help clean the injectors. It wouldn't hurt to do a little seafoam either way, but I am thinking from the sound of it that his problem is more like a pulley or tensioner.

If it's from the pulley or tensioner, it shouldnt be that big of a deal to fix as long as I have the money to fix it, and as for the seafoam suggestion, I actually did do it. I used one whole bottle, poured some of it into the Oil, some of it into the Brake Line (I think that's what its called...) and some in the gas.

Originally Posted by 40th GP

Since you brought it up (and it is somewhat related), are you talking about pouring the seafoam in with the engine oil I take it? Is it recommended to leave it in the oil, or do you pour it in right before an oil change and just run it a few miles? I have also seen this used as a top end cleaner by putting it through a vacuum line into the intake, but have heard we can't do that on our cars as it will hurt the blower. How do we do this on our cars?

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread...

I have heard that seafoam is good, and putting in the gas tank can also help clean the injectors. It wouldn't hurt to do a little seafoam either way, but I am thinking from the sound of it that his problem is more like a pulley or tensioner.

There are specific amounts listed on the can, but yeah some goes in the oil before an oil change, but dont drive for more than like 50-100 miles with it, it really thins out the oil I'd imagine, and plus as it breaks down all the crap in there, it stays in the oil and it gets really dirty really fast.

Then slowly pour whatever amount they recommend into the brake booster line (I think that's ok with the SC engine).. I've heard the advice to not so much dump it in there as to just pour it slowly enough so that the vacuum is sucking it up, then I believe at the end you dump the remnants to make the engine stall out.

Shut off and let it sit for 10 minutes, start it up well ventilated cause you'll get some pretty nasty fumes for awhile, rev it up and get that crap out... lots of people come through with really nice results.

However, as a warning, dont do it unless you're ok with changing your plugs, since some people tend to get fouled plugs after that 2nd part.

its a bad pully, take the belt off spin each pully untill you find the one that makes noise. replace it.. had the same **** on my car, ended up replacing idler and one other pully i forget witch.

Originally Posted by Jakegday

whoa there! you can buy just the pulley (with bearing) for like $20...

So you can. I didn't realize that before, so now I will need to break out the stethoscope again and make sure it is just that pulley/bearing. I thought it was an assembly, and when I looked it up at autozone.com and rockauto.com I only saw the complete assembly listed too, but now I see just the bearing showing on autozone. If that is all it needs that is the way I will go. Thanks for the heads up.