BoriTL

i've been reading the forum all morning and havent really found anything that sounds like whats going on. i have 99 TL 110k, i bought it with 92k miles probably about 2 yrs ago now and have already rebuilt tranny, timing belt, water pump, temp sensor, cranks seal, and IACV have all been replaced. Engine has always ran strong since i've had it, two days ago came home from work and started hearing some clicking so assumed the PS pump finally blew since its been whining for sometime, but yesterday i disconnected the PS pump to see if the clicking stopped and it didn't. Besides having a constant issue with my idle bouncing even after replacing IACV my engine was always quiet and running strong. It still runs great but i can hear the clicking sound constantly and when i accelerate so does the clicking. any ideas or suggestions??

thanks

fsttyms1

Well for starters, can you pinpoint where its coming from? Which side of the engine? If you believe it to be on the side with the accessory belts, it may be a idler bearing or tensioner bearing for the main belt. Can you provide us with a little more information?

Also you should address your bouncing idle. That isnt good to have.

BoriTL

I was sticking my ear to the engine yesterday and sounds like its coming from belts side of the engine on the back valve cover side, you can hear it directly above the intake manifold, seems to speed up as i accelerate. Just not sure exactly what it is. If your talking about the tensioner thats on the AC belt, its brand new had replaced it with timing belt. Where is the idler bearing?? also noticed too a little bit of oil was under the car when i lifted up after trying to listen for the noise but the weird thing is, was on the transmission side but it was motor oil and couldn't find any trails coming from the motor.

I've been slowly trying to find the idle issue, i noticed the other day that my front mount has a little hose connecting to it and my car is a 99 so i'm sure it time to replace the mount as i read somewhere that if it leaks can cause idle issues and noticed while i was looking at this issue when i ran my hand across that drops of fluid was on the bottom of it, so time to replace. It just a bummer seems one thing after another with the TL and it sucks. Just started driving it three months ago after having to save for a tranny rebuilt. any help is very much appreciated.

BoriTL

So opened her up yesterday to see if i can find out whats causing this clicking sound. So started with the timing covers see if anything lose, and low and behold my freaking timing belt was lose, upon further inspection noticed my TB tensioner looked completely closed so was not applying tension to the belt making the pulley bounce around. Ordering the parts this weekend just going to get ahead and replace all the components as i should have done when i did the timing belt job 5k miles ago. Goes to show spending a little more saves in the long run..

Ordering the parts from Rockauto on Friday as i can order a couple extra things i need fixed for what i would have paid at Advance Auto.

Also motor mount question, i know my front mount in front of radiator has a hose attached to it, would that automatically mean my back mount is also hydralic assisted? should i replace my mounts with non-hydralic and close of the hoses??

3.2TLc

Hey BoriTL, yeah a good testimonial....cutting corners can bite ya in the butt.

Bottom line is you got lucky on that one ! ~A lesson to all: Do the complete T-belt service with a few more relatively cheap parts when already initially opened up, as the labor is negligible at that time. Just do it right !!!

Anyways, about the mounts, yeah the OEM's are hydraulic with vac assist on front and rear. You can replace with either, if you choose non-vac .....just plug the vac at the solenoid source. Check the DIY's and search other previous threads on mount replacement. Rock Auto has some good prices on them also !

BoriTL

Changed everything successfully yesterday, noise is gone. Only issue still having is my idle bouncing, i've already changed IACV and cleaned out both the intake and the throttle body but still have same issue. Only thing i can think of is the motor mounts being broken but won't know till i can afford to change them. any ideas??