I have a 2003 Toyota Solara 4 cyl. auto. transmission. I recently had the head replaced. Now it is making a metal on metal sound near the drivers side of the engine. It makes the sound during idle, when I change gears, and the sound increases when I rev the engine. Please help. What could it be?
I’d take it back to the shop that did the head replacement and and ask them what they think it could be. Is it a metal on metal scraping sound or tapping sound? When you say “the sound increases when I rev the engine” do you mean it gets louder or increases in frequency or both? Does is get any louder or softer as the engine warms up? During idle at all times or just when you change gears?
It has a similar sound of a fan hitting something. It is a weird sound that increases in noise when I rev the engine, but has a different frequency when I shift. The sound is constant whether it is idling or pushing the gas
Weird sound is right. Try attaching a video with the sound. It’s loudest standing in front of the car with the hood open, right? Record your video from there.
I’d have it towed back to the shop. That sound just might be valves banging against pistons or even one another due to mistiming. If my memory serves, you have dual camshafts, and the valves enter the cylinders at an angle. If the camshafts are not properly timed with respect to one another, valves can strike one another as they open and close.
When I have an unusual sound coming from the engine of my car I can’t identify, I’ll use a length of garden hose as a stethoscope to isolate the location.
If the sound is not a steady rhythmic one and fluctuates a bit then maybe it’s a cam chain rattle due to any one of a number of reasons.
If this noise was present when you picked the car up you should have returned it at that time. Motoring on with a noise that should not be present can sometimes turn a minor issue into a major one.
It’s unusual to replace a cylinder head on a 2003 Toyota so I might ask what the reason was for replacing it?
While the mechanic was working on it, he replaced the head, cams, waterpump, thermostat, hoses, pcv valve, and had a new timing kit assembly
Might be a loose exhaust system baffle.