Solved an engine bay vibration rattle after TB job

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Old Feb 11, 2014 | 08:41 AM
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Solved an engine bay vibration rattle after TB job

For months I was having this awful rattle in my engine bay that could only be heard from inside the car, sounded like all three mounts were hitting bare metal. Combined with high miles and a yet-to-be-done valve adjustment, the vibrations made the rattle seem worse than it probably was. It turns out that when I did my TBelt job, and removed the passenger mount and PS reservoir, the metal bracket that holds the PS reservoir was bumped and bent slightly inwards towards the windshield fluid reservoir neck. This created the most mysterious, nerve racking rattle that I have ever experienced in a car, one that was impossible to hear or diagnose from the engine bay. If anyone is having any rattles up front or vibration noises, it's worth a shot to check out your PS reservoir bracket to make sure it is nowhere near the neck of your windshield fluid reservoir. The noise only happened when the PS fluid was hot and expanding the plastic of the reservoir, and would stop whenever the fluid had cooled down. During the time I was diagnosing this rattle I ended up discovering a loose rear spark plug, I was extremely lucky not to have the plug back out fully or strip the cylinder head
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Old Feb 11, 2014 | 08:58 AM
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Old Feb 12, 2014 | 11:30 AM
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It can be diagnosed if you leave the car in Drive and pull the ebrake hard enough to stop the car. That will give you the vibration you needed to diagnose it with the hood open
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Old Feb 12, 2014 | 12:26 PM
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Originally Posted by paperboy42190
It can be diagnosed if you leave the car in Drive and pull the ebrake hard enough to stop the car. That will give you the vibration you needed to diagnose it with the hood open
Oddly enough I tried that exact trick so many times, I was diagnosing the thing for weeks using those vibrations to my advantage but there was no way in hell to hear the noise from outside of the car. The only way I found it was by sitting in the car while my buddy walked around the engine bay pressing down on components as I sat there in gear with the ebrake up. Sure enough as soon as he pressed on the Windshield fluid neck the noise completely stopped and I found the culprit. Good times...
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Old May 12, 2014 | 12:07 AM
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Alright buddy, another rattle solved that prevents meticulous people who hate rattles like myself from breaking their heads if this were to happen. ThankYou
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