I have noticed for the past month a new sound when I put a load on the engine (MCS) especially when my window is down and there is a concrete wall to my left for the sound to bounce off of. Sounds sort of like a playing card in the spokes of a bicycle wheel.

Today when washing under the hood I noticed a black oil residue under the right SC rubber boot. I have not removed the boot for inspection, but I'm guessing this is the cause. The brackets are very tight, no obvious signs of a split but again I have not yet removed it... will do later tonight.

Is this a pattern failure or familiar failure... does this rubber boot have a history of splitting or just not sealing well?

If so, it appears it is time for after market boots and clamps.

I am open to your suggestions for after market boots.

Thanks for your help.

YD

 

I had a similar noise that we diagnosed as the axel center support. The bearing was worn. How many miles do you have?

 

25K

YD

 

Any update on your issue, YD? Friends 04 is exhibiting this same noise.

 

YD;
You might also check here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=18230
The playing cards in the spokes metaphore caught my eye.

 

The stock intercooler boots are pretty bad. They may look fine and clamped well, but will leak under boost. I replaced mine and noticed a huge gain because the leak was fixed. I have the ultrik intercooler boots.

About your fluttery noise, the only time I've heard such a thing was when my car was dangerously low on oil after my old oil cooler was taken out by a chunk of ice. That is why the new one is mounted where the CVT cooler would go.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys, but it is just one of those noises you would have to hear to understand. So far I believe the noise is my tires. Imagine you are driving on a dry road and then drive through some water on the road that just happens to be running across the road... that is the noise I get on a dry road when accelerating hard. Most noticeable with the windows down and a wall or curb of come sort on my near left to bounce the sound back to me.

The other day I was accelerating on concrete and the road changed to asphalt and the noise changed dramatically and then went back to the original noise when I went back to concrete. This is making me think it is tire tread noise. Goodyear Eagle F1 A/S, fairly new (about 5K miles). The only way I can prove this is to try some different tires for a test. Right now I'm pretty sure this is the source of the noise.

I will keep listening and trying other things, I'll keep you posted if I learn anything new.. thanks again for your suggestions.

YD

 

Have that same noise for some time now (playing card in bike spokes, most noticeable when driving next to a barrier or wall, starts around 3k rpm) and did the tire-changing routine. No change in noise.
Shop boss @ dealership tells me it's injectors rattling ("They all do that" -if I hear that one more time from them, I'm gonna hurt someone), other posts tell me it's the harmonic balancer, but changing the HB only cures it sometimes. Others opine that the cv joint is clicking. Don't think so. Still working my way toward a solution.
Let me know if you happen across a cure. There's a few of us out there that would like to know.
-AM-

 

In my case, it was the crank pulley (a.k.a. harmonic balancer). It only happened under load (above 3.5Krpm), passenger side window down, driving next to a curb, wall, center divider, etc.

I now have the "updated" crank pulley and the clatter is gone. I could have lived with the noise, but the car had 80Kmiles at the time the crank pulley was replaced, and I was told that if it fails, it takes lot more than just replacing the pulley; so, I went ahead with the replacement.

Good luck!

 

Volki: If you have the part number of the "updated crank pulley," would you mind sharing it with us? I'm close to changing mine ('03 MCS, 47K, same symptoms). Many thanks.