2003 Protege rattling sound(s)

[duke2010]

Hello,

Right now I'm experiencing a couple different rattling sounds on my Protege.

The first is a fairly light rattling when the engine is cold, that seems to be exactly what is described in the VCTS tsb. However, my car is out of the VIN range(191xxx vs 141xxx). Is it still likely that it is the problem, or is there something else known that could be causing it?

The second only occurs after I've been driving for a bit, and the engine is up to full temp. Its louder than the other, and more of a metallic sound. It only occurs on acceleration, usually around 2200-2500 RPM (In all gears, but most apparent in 1-3). It seems like it's probably just a heat shield to me, but I wanted to see if there were any other known issues causing a rattle like that.

Thanks!

 

[njaremka]

the hot rattle is more likely to be a heat shield. easy diagnosis: get the car in the air, and whack the exhaust with a dead-blow or rubber mallet. do that, and you should hear where its coming from. rip it off, and see if that helps. it MAY help both sounds.

 

[stivine6]

there are 3 heat shields around the car

its either the heat shield covering the headers (engine bay)
j pipe
cat converter

listen to where its coming from and just rip it off. Annoying as hell

 

[duke2010]

Ok thanks, I'll give that a try.

One other question (totally off topic though). I just noticed a few times that on harder, sustained turn my oil light comes on. I last changed my oil around mid-may, and have probably put somewhere around 1500 miles on in that time. My dipstick only shows it being slightly down, maybe 1/5th down from full at the very most. Is it normal for the oil light to be coming on with that small a deficit?

 

[njaremka]

yes, normal, and one of the other "features" of the protege engine.