Hi all, there is a high speed clicking noise coming from the right side of my engine bay under hard acc. It only seems like it occurs above 4k, and the sound softens after the car is nice and warm.

It doesn't sound like the sound that had been described as the supercharger going out, plus my r53 only has 60k on the clock. Also it happens only when the car is in gear and under load, when in neutral and free revving it doesn't occur.

What is making this noise?

 

If you search the forums you'll find countless threads about "death rattles" and the like. These engines are very prone to the symptoms you describe and unfortunately there is no hard consensus on the root cause or guaranteed fixes.

In my case, I had the same problem but it only happened under med/heavy acceleration, rarely if ever under fully throttle. It too was dependent on temperature and never happened when the car was in neutral.

My problem went away completely when I installed an ATI super damper and replaced the serpentine belt tensioner.
My gut feeling is that the tensioner was the root cause, the little hydraulic damper on it was completely shot. It's a good place to start in your case. These things are known to fail early.

 

Ok thanks, I will look into replacing it. I did some more research and it all kinda pointed toward the damper making the noise.

*sigh* another part to buy......