I started my car after work the other day to hear a clanking sound under the hood. It seems to be from the drivers side, near the oil pan. Is this a spun bearing or something?! It isnt like a knock....more like the sound you get when the exhaust is hitting something metal ... but I dont see it contacting anything. It will do it one run, and not the next...then the next time I start it , I hear it again.

Imagine putting a 1/2" bolt in a coffee can and shaking it, lol. Its there during idle or accelleration .... but the engine is performing normally. It doesnt really speed up with engine speed, but gets a little louder at higher rpm's. I can hear it coming from the exhaust pipes even from the passenger door area ( under the car ) but its not as loud as by the oil pan on the drivers side.

The last mod I added was a Madz28 tune a couple months back....and nothing for a long time (and there was no contact/sound). The car just turned over 138k miles with a new topend installed at 110k.

What do you guys think?! ---

 

Check your motor mounts

 

Does the motor shake when it makes the noise?

 

Yeah, actually since the tune the engine shakes BAD .... like two to three fast shakes , then chills for about 30 seconds, then two to three BAD SHAKES. I have a REAL ****ty old digi cam that I can take short vids on with sound if you guys need it....let me know. Time to go to a party though....be back soon (thanks for the help and time ) ---

 

there is alot of things this could be, but like stated before bad motor mounts in combination with a miss could be the problem, does the car seem to miss when it is making the noise?

what mods do you have exactly, that info could help (would not be a bad idea to throw it in your sig)

 

It has edelbrock shorties, an airfoil, underdrive pulleys, 3" catback to a flowmaster muffler, kn cai, granatelli maf, and a madz28 tune ( and suspension mods but those shouldnt matter to this question). There are NO CODES....it runs strong actually ---

 

yes, but does it seem to miss when making the noise

 

flexplate? mine did that pulled the tranny annd it had 2 cracks but still ran good and shifted fine but sounded like some one was under the hoo banging on stuff with a hammer.

 

My friend had the same problem on his 81 TA. I kept saying spun bearing, it ended up being his flexplate.

 

thats what i thought with mine and tore it apart for nothing.

 

This happened after 1 hour of stop and go traffic ( first time I have been stuck in this kind of traffic all year ) . My clutch used to rattle when in neutral and out ... but when I pushed the clutch in, the sound would go away.

Is the flexplate connected to the tranny? Is this also called the flywheel that the starter uses?

What am I risking by driving it like this? For some reason this is one part I have never dealt with before, lol .... thanks ---

 

Automatics have flexplates. Manuals have flywheels. You usually don't hear of too many people cracking flywheels. Is there anyway to get the car on a lift and try to get the car to make the noise? That way, you could pinpoint where the noise is coming from.