Vibration/rattling noise from engine. In the dealership 6 times in the last two months. They said they have checked the following: heat shield, exhaust leak, timing chain, rusty or broken flexplate, faulty harmonic balancer, loose fan blade, faulty serpentine belt tensioner, loose bolt on the mounting bracket and all of the above are okay. They blew out the catalytic converter and decided to change the alternator (at my expense), Still have the same noise whether in gear or just idling. Now they want me to spend approx. $180 to change the spark plugs, put additives in the engine, etc. with another oil change. Car has had regular maintenance throughout the 5 years I have had the car. What do I do if this latest expense of $180 does get rid of the noise? The dealership tells me it is not hurting the car in any way, but why should I have to drive around with this annoying noise? It has to be something fixable! Your help would be appreciated. I live in Ontario, Canada. Thanks.
Sounds like the dealer has been throwing a lot of parts at the problem. Or at least checking a lot of parts. At this point I’d say they don’t know what the issue is. Don’t take it back there.
Either take it to another independent shop, expecting them to diagnose and possibly throw parts at it at your expense… or learn to live with the noise. Turn up the radio.
Thanks for the info…yes, I suppose I could live with the noise, but what happens when I want to sell the vehicle. I wanted to trade in next year…I wouldn’t buy a car with this kind of noise, so I assume no one else will. And I am sure the value of my car will be less with this issue.
Is your shop using a mechanic’s stethoscope to narrow down where the noise is coming from? If not, ask them to try that. Sometimes just a length of discarded garden hose can be used as a stethoscope. Until the source of the sound is determined, this will be very difficult to fix. Given everything they’ve already checked (which was all reasonable imo), I’d probably be looking for loose or worn engine or transmission mounts. Especially if the car is driven pretty hard; i.e. fast accelerations.
BTW, I doubt any shop will guarantee a fix for a certain total dollar fee. They’ll do the best they can, and charge for parts and by the hour for labor.
My wild guess is valve noise, caused b/c of a problematic valve clearance issue.
Kia TDI engines are very noisy,almost like an old diesel engine.The valves needs to be cleaned to stop the rattles.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll pass it along to the mechanic.