ever since i got the car it has always made a rattling noise somewhere up in the engine bay. i dont know if its in the transmission or where. If anyone has ever heard of this i would appreciate it if you could tell me what it might be.
I installed my front sway bar and when I started it after it had a bad rattly. We emideatly looked at the heat shields and that was it. We moved part of a shield while under the car.
shake the motor back and forth with it turned off and see if you hear anything. If you do than its a shield. Reaf on the engine pretty good but from a metal part and not a breakabke plastic part like the throttle body.
It's hard to tell what it might be from your description. There's a lot of pieces/parts up there. It could be a heat shield that contacts part of the engine or subframe when it's under a load. The rear motor mount on the Focus is notoriously poor. It allows the enging to rock so much that it will actually bang against the firewall during a hard shift on cars with a manual tranny. A VF Engineering motor mount was one of the 1st mods I made to my car.
My suggestion is to open the hood and have a friend drive or vise versa, and one of you stay outside the car to see if you can pinpoint the location. If it happens at low rpms you might be able to do it in your driveway.
Couple of questions: Does it happen when the engine is revved with the clutch disengaged or in neutral? With either tranny, does it happen when you torque the engine slightly with the brake on? When you look carefully under the hood or under the car, can you see/feel anything that's rubbing, or maybe has a shiney spot where there shouldn't be one? Sound can travel & be deceptive, especially when you're surronded by a metal cage. Have you checked anything towards the rear of the car, e.g. exhaust?
____________________ If you can't read this, you're illiterate.
it only if im taking off in a low rpm or if im in ne gear and its at a low rpm. I just got new exhaust put on a couple weeks ago but the rattle noise has been on the car since i got last july.
