HELP!!! "Clattering" Noise

foosed · **Posted:** Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:14 pm

My 2006 CRD has started to clatter at low speed. I was hit head-on by a lady back in September, and $9,200 later, it is back and like new except for the aforementioned clatter. It mainly happens from about 10 to 0 mph. Always when stopping, never when accellerating. At first, I thought that the body shop neglected to get everything tightened, but I have checked everything out. I am wondering if it might be something with the transmission. What do the TC's sound like when they are going out? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

UFO · **Posted:** Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:48 pm

I had a similar symptom starting in the morning after a very cold night. Very rough idle and pronounced clatter at idle only, it was smooth just off idle and accelerated smoothly. After it got warm it went away, but it sounded to me like an injector sticking.

foosed · **Posted:** Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:49 pm

Mine is just the opposite. It does it less when it is cold (this morning was about 25 degrees, yesterday morning was about 15 degrees). It gets worse after I have been driving for a little while. It seems to do it less since I changed my oil, but still does it some.

danoid · **Posted:** Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:50 pm

Mine started to rattle at a stop just after the torque converter recall. Put the trans into neutral (unload the engine & mounts) and it went away. That was 14,000 miles ago. Now it's constant and constantly driving me up a wall.

After tearing the dashboard apart down to the steel and reinstalling every part over expanding foam, the car is noticeably quieter. But still rattles. So I got a stethescope and traced it to the steering column. My theory is that something is vibrating against the steering system and the column is the speaker by which I hear it.

I'm waiting until spring (warmer weather) to put it on jacks and start poking around underneath...

Can you turn off your rattle by shifing into Neutral?

foosed · **Posted:** Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:05 pm

Sometimes it stops when I shift into neutral, but not always. It usually stops when I come to a complete stop, even with the trans. in drive. That's why I thought it might be something that was loose (skid plate, exhaust, etc.), but I know several people have had TC problems and thought I should see what those symptoms were.

calcrd · **Posted:** Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:22 pm

I had a similar problem. Usually occured in reverse or at idle. In my case the culprit was a damaged engine skid plate that made intermittent contact with the bottom of the drivetrain as the engine shifted slightly when driven in reverse gear. Hope this helps.

danoid · **Posted:** Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:09 pm

calcrd wrote:

I had a similar problem. Usually occured in reverse or at idle. In my case the culprit was a damaged engine skid plate that made intermittent contact with the bottom of the drivetrain as the engine shifted slightly when driven in reverse gear. Hope this helps.

I've had that one too. I moved the skid down with longer bolts and spacers. (the skid was contacting the bottom of the front differential). Maybe I should check that again. The stealership may have put the skid back in 'stock' location.

Timmaah! · **Posted:** Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:20 pm

I have a sympathetic rattle similar to what you describe, foosed. I’ve been trying to find if for months. Problem is, it is intermittent and is not prominent enough to find under the hood but can be plainly heard inside the car.

foosed · **Posted:** Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:23 am

That sounds like mine. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it is worse than others. It doesn't seem to be as loud outside of the car. Maybe I should just turn up the radio and be glad that the engine runs good.

Timmaah! · **Posted:** Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:28 pm

After a recent trip the noise seems to be more continuous and a little louder. At an idle I can hear (close to the tail pipe) a jingling metallic sound in the exhaust. When I push against the tail pipe to stabilize it the noise stops. So, maybe the noise is something loose inside of the muffler. It is a little too cold outside to mess with right now.

rubicon03 · **Joined:** Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:52 pm **Posts:** 28

foosed,

Does the clatter sound like it is from something rotating and does the noise decrese in speed or sound as the vehicle slows to a stop?Does it clatter at all with the vehicle sitting still in park or neutral while the engine is idling or sped up?
If the clatter rolls to a stop it could be a front cv shaft on either side that is going out.

I had a constant rattle in the cab that I finally located.It turned out to be the transmission fill tube . the tab bracket on the tube was bent in such a way where it fastens to the transmission bellhousing bolt that it had rubbed thru the firewall insulation in one small spot and would make metal to metal contact with the firewall .As the engine changed position slightly in its mounting under varying loads it would rattle the cab metal.I'm not suggesting this is your vehicle's problem but persistence and patients in looking usually pays off, but it may not be easy finding it.
rubicon03

Timmaah! · **Posted:** Sat Jan 26, 2008 7:32 pm

Sorry about piggy-backing on Foosed’s noise problem, but I think we might have the same noise. Something like a bracket knocking against the firewall could explain the consistency between vehicles. It warmed up here today and I have been looking for the noise again. It’s not the muffler or anything to do with the exhaust like I mentioned in a previous post. I’ve got good clearance on the transmission filler tube and bracket (really wanted that to be it – thanks for the good suggestion).

It sounds like it is on the left side toward the front of the engine. I released the serpentine belt and checked the over-running pulley on the alternator. I had the alternator off some time ago when I replaced a glow-plug. That’s when I discovered the OR pulley and didn’t know they existed before then. The pulley slipped very freely in one direction and grabbed very precisely in the other direction. Now it drags dryly with a little effort in the slip direction and there is a gap in rotation before grabs in the other direction – so, it’s going out. I’m going to track one down and change it. I may or may not be the noise.

The only time I hear the noise is at idle or when I am slowing down and the engine is at or near idle speed and the noise corresponds to engine firing impulses. Most of the time now when I shut the engine down there is a metallic dragging sound as it stops. Some times when the noise is not there the jolt of putting the transmission in forward or reverse will bring it on. Drive a way and the rattle is gone.

I read on this or another forum that the design life of OR pulleys is 50k miles and paid little attention to that. I now have 52k miles and think there may be some truth to it.

Timmaah! · **Posted:** Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:44 pm

http://www.tendeco.com/techtips.nsf/361566820a8d6c24852570d5004b9fdb/60423692a8d6a5b58525719b0069a476/$FILE/OAPs%20101.pdf

foosed · **Posted:** Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:39 pm

I finally went to the dealer service department to have them look at it. I only have 1600 miles left on my warranty, so I figured I better get it done. They said that there is some "play" in the front driveline and they are going to replace both front axles and the front drive shaft. Yikes!!! They have ordered parts and say they will need it for "a while" to do the work. Whatever that means. I was afraid they would charge me for the repairs since this probably happened as a result of my wreck, but they said it would be covered under warranty. I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.

danoid · **Posted:** Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:08 pm

I've had someone at work tell me that it's a pre-loaded engine mount. If one of the mounts is tightened down before the other is installed, it cantilevers the whole engine/trans assembly. When it warms up I'm loosening them both, lifing the engine a bit and letting it settle down, then retightening them. My rattle is only under positive driveline torque (coasting or neutral it goes away).

greggmig · **Posted:** Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:15 am

I have that same clatter and ratle when in drive at a stop, thought it was just a normal charateristic of the vehicle! I was reluctant to take it to the stealer for the fear of them making it worse. I will look into it myself,and check what you guys have mentioned.

calcrd · **Posted:** Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:57 pm

Had it and the dealer replaced the engine bottom shield that was damaged. Noise came back. Dealer finally found source which in my case was a bad engine mount.

foosed · **Posted:** Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:12 pm

Took it in this morning to have the axles and drive shaft replaced. They said it would be done later today. Will report back tomorrow as to whether or not it fixed the noise.

awindj · **Posted:** Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:02 pm

I just came back from the dealer. Mine rattles pretty good when I put it into reverse. Also when I am going down a steep hill.

Dealer says it is the torque converter and they need to check with Chrysler to see if it is still covered on the original torque converter recall, which I have already done.

It sure sounds to me more like a bad engine mount than a torque converter.

foosed · **Posted:** Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:57 am

Picked mine up from the dealer last night. Two front axles and one drive shaft later... It still freaking clatters! The bad thing is that it really only clatters when decelerating from about 30 to 0. It is kind of difficult to climb underneath and check things out while also decelerating. How do I check the engine mounts?

HELP!!! "Clattering" Noise

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