Came home last evening to what sounded like a timing chain rattle (as per my Youtube research on it's sound). I drove it pretty hard last evening coming home from work. Started it up this morning and everything was fine. Drove my daughter to school and made some grocery stops along the way. Same thing, when I got to my drive way I can hear the rattle. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the "rattle of death" should be worse when starting the car cold. Mine seems to do it more when the car is hot. Anything else it could be? Replacing the tensioner "appears" to be quite simple. Any way to remove it and test it before ordering another one?

 

Gen1 car?, Aka r53, r52, r50?
Death rattle is more if a gen2 term...so think the clips on u-tube were mostly from them...
If so...pretty easy...
Gen2, not so easy.
Gen1 cars tend to not have many timing chain issues if the oil is kept full and changed regularly.
The timing chin tensioner uses oil psi...so first, check you oil level ...
Then it's possible it's getting weak....they just screw in...crank the car, and they open up...as long as you have not damaged the plastic guides by running too much with the unit weak/failed.

 

It's really an easy job... 1 bolt... 15 mins if you're worried:

 

Oops, sorry about that. It's a MCS 2006 convertible. When I was leaving today, the rattle occurred at startup. As soon as I put the clutch down to back out of the driveway it disappeared. Now I am a little confused.

 

If it comes and goes with the clutch, then it is the throw-out bearing
A bit of a known issue....
Fix is to replace it...since it is the same work to do the clutch, the clutch is usully done at the same time.
Some cars go quite a few miles with a throwout bearing rattle...some just make noise...some rattle and fail...you can listen for it...push the clutch in and out...see if the rattle is there...and it is the throw-out bearing, imo limit idling...
If it does not get worse or suddenly change, you might be able to live with it...
But a sudden change means a replacement should be done before but you get stranded....
Just a warning....if you do chance waiting...it is possible that the tranny's case could be damaged by the chunks when the bearing fails....a few have, but not many...but would increase the cost of the repair several fold in some cases...leading to welding the tranny's case in a best case situation, or a new tranny in the worst case....

 

Thanks so much for all the advice, very much appreciated. I guess I have a project for next winter (only drive the car during the summer, and only clock appr. 3500 miles per year). Changing out the clutch and everything related will take care of some annoyances I have with this car (chewbacka squeal, squeeky clutch pedal, and now this rattle). I just hope it makes it till this winter.

 

Hi solomio! Here are several articles on this very topic along with an application guide. Please let us know if we can help!

http://new.minimania.com/Search_Resu...0chain/default

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.