Hi Guys,
I may just be going a bit crazy but I feel like my engine is louder lately. Some ticking noise seems a bit louder, and also from the passenger side by the pulleys. At one point I thought I hear a slight rattle a few weeks back like a pulley going bad but have been unable to reproduce it.

Here's a video to listen too (anything sound abnormal? the sounds are all exagerated by the camera)

I'm at 136k miles. Timing belt, water pump, idler pulley, tensioner pulley, hydraulic tensioner, serpentine belt were changed at 96k with oem parts. A valve adjustment was also completed. This was 3 years ago. A few months ago I also completely rebuilt the power steering pump as a preventative measure. I was worried I messed up a pulley or the pump but listening to the pulleys with a screwdriver I can't discern any noises. I also turned the pulleys by hand with no belt and they felt smooth. The pump maybe sounds a little louder?

Thoughts?
Thanks,
Eric

 

I think I got it. I got the car nice and warmed up and I believe its the belt tensioner pulley. You can hear it pretty clearly in the below video (especially the last 2 seconds). No noise with the belt removed. I suppose I'll replace the whole assembly unless someone says otherwise. Is OEM the best or are aftermarket ok?

 

The noise when you hover over the top of the manifold in the first video sounds like valve noise to me. My car sounds the same, sitting at 106k and I know I need to do the adjustment.

That kind of harsh noise at the end of the second video is probably your tensioner, since it makes it once you touch it and try to move it. Kinda hard to tell exactly what you do, since the camera sort of pans away.

I went with a Gates kit from RockAuto, which gives you a new serpentine belt, tensioner, and idler pulley. Gates makes a quality product, so I would go with them or OEM, whichever you decide.

 

Replaced the tensioner and belt with new oem ($$$$) tonight. Back to being super quiet the way it's always been. I'll look into the valve noise (even though it just had a valve check at 96k). Thanks for the suggestions.

 

Good to hear! Glad the belt and tensioner solved your issue. If you hear a similar noise in the future, another good way to test would be to remove the serpentine belt and see if the noise goes away. It could be the idler pulley that is the issue if the noise comes back.

Ah, I re-read the original post, it would seem odd that the valves would be that noisy if they were done 40k ago, unless they weren't done correctly. From what I have read, the valves aren't a big deal to have done, but if they are noisy, which means they are a little out of spec, then you may see some reduced fuel economy, but nothing in regards to performance. I really want to tackle doing the valve adjustment on my own. Eric the Car Guy has a great 2 part video on how to do them on the TL which inspires enough confidence for me to feel I can do it myself.