1985 3.2 carrera engine rattle

[chill6834]

Hi all,

last year my 911 past its MOT with no problems however on route to the garage i noticed a slight tinny rattle at top revs. it almost sounded like a loose heat shield or something similar. it was the cars first run out after a winter rest.

on the way home from the MOT the rattle got louder and louder and so i pulled over and had the car recovered back home. i havent started it up since. it sounded very unhealthy but continued to run. the car has 119000 on the clock with a full service history.

the time has now come where i need to get my car fixed or move it on as it is. can anyone recommend a reputable independent in the west mids are? i live in the dudley area. im aware of the porsche shop and club auto sport who are both in halesowen. i previously purchased spares from both of these but im a little unsure about using them to perform what might be major surgery.

many thanks in advance,

Carl.

[jmgarage]

Can you describe the noise in any more detail?

Can't recommend anyone off the top of my head in your area, its a bit of a no mans land. I would recommend Hartech, but they are in Bolton, probably a bit far for you.

It could be as simple as the bearings going in the alternator/fan assembly, or it could be as drastic as a pulled head bolt or spun bearing in the crankcase.

Give me as much detail as you can, no matter how silly it seems to compare the noise to X Y Z, but it can often point in the right direction.

[chill6834]

Hi Jon and thank you for the reply.

To describe the noise I'd say in addition to what I mentioned above its much louder than the original rattle that I first noticed. The noise did speed up a little inline with the rpms but didn't 100% match the rpms if that makes sense.

Jon its been some time since I started the engine so I think I'm gonna be brave and reconnect the battery and see what happens. I'll post a more accurate description later this morning.

Kind regards,

Carl.

[jmgarage]

If you have a smart phone, record the noise and video and upload it here.

[chill6834]

Hi Jon,

My battery was flat I've got it on charge. Tomorrow evening after work ill start it and record it. Once again thank you very much for your advice.

Regards,

Carl.

[chill6834]

hi Jon, after a busy weekend at work i finally got round to starting the car this morning. it started at the second turn of the key and other than than that annoying rattle there was a fair bit of smoke. in past the car always produced a little smoke on start up but that soon disappeared. today the smoke did eventually clear after a couple of minutes, i hope this was due to it not running in over a year.

anyway it appears to be ticking over fine. .

i had difficulty in uploading the videos so i have pasted the youtube links.

http://youtu.be/JBFwXRTBhaI

http://youtu.be/HdHi8k-gSVc

again thank you very much for help and advice.

regards,

carl

[chill6834]

Just wondering if anybody has seen the video's.

Many thanks,

Carl.

[jmgarage]

Hi Carl,

Sorry for the delay in replying, I completely missed the thread being updated.

Have watched the video, the good news is it does not sound like a problem with the deep internals of the engine. Sounds more like a top end rattle (cam follower for example), or possibly cam chain based.

As the noise came on gradually on the way to an MOT, rather that it coming on suddenly, I would be temped to say it is a cam chain guide or tensioner fault.

I would recommend not driving it, but instead getting recovered to a specialist.

If you sell it as it stands, it might not get a great deal, as most people will fear the worst, which could be more expensive than getting it fixed.

[chill6834]

John thank you so much for your advice. I'll see if I can locate a reputable local specialist. Failing this I may just trailer it to your garage. Once again thank you.

Regards,

Carl.

[jmgarage]

We get a lot of customers from your part of the world. Seems like there is a void of good Porsche specialists in the middle of the country