I can't take this noise anymore! Help please!

[BlackCherry]

There's a buzz in my car around 2500 rpms. Happens in every gear. Imagine putting a straw in a fan, that's what it sounds like. It sounds like it could be coming from the passenger side, could be wrong though. The ac also makes some kind of funky noise around the area, for example when I turn the ac on it makes some kind of noise as if something was loose. It's a different kind of noise, kind of hard to explain. I do most of my driving around 2500 rpms so I'm constantly hearing this buzz and I'm sick of it, it's driving me insane. I have my friends in the car occasionally too, and it's embarrassing trying to talk with someone with a constant buzz going on

I had some transmission work done previously too I had my 02 trans swapped for an 03, resurfaced flywheel, new clutch new everything. I was trying to use google for some help and I ran into some guy who had a similar problem who wound up finding a wrench that was causing the buzz, could it possibly be similar? Maybe a rock or something?

Thanks in advance for the help guys, I might just bring it to my mech if I can't find any luck. I just wanna get this fixed already

 

[BlackCherry]

The ac/heat works fine btw

 

[Fasty73]

Does it happen in nuetral??

 

[MaxPower]

Hmm, take a look at the heat shields covering the exhaust--if those get loose, they can cause buzzing at specific RPMs (on mine, it was intervals of 1250rpm).

 

[P-Funk!]

^yep! That would be my guess as well.

If it does occur in neutral, have some one rev untilt he buzz occurs and listen underneath (be carefull! Hot exhaust and moving bits, eh!) to see if that is it.

If it is from inside - again have someone rev until it buzzes and spend the time to find it...

 

[alexelie]

im not sure if this his the same has me but i also have this kind of buzzing sound around 1600 rpm...like bbgrrrrrr. always there, sometimes louder(like its hitting hard lol).If im outside, i can hear it near the hood, if i pop the hood im not able to reach it! its close to the windshield tho.

this is a video i made last summer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBuSMw9xNRY

 

[JC-MP5]

Yup, mine rattles around 1500 and 2300 rpm. Probably a heat shield. The only ones left on my car are the ones on the stock mid-pipe and I intend on making a custom piece so that will go away.

 

[alexelie]

mine is already out,both

 

[P-Funk!]

Mine was the last remaining 'clamp' for the heat shield as it danced and vibrated around the exhaust pipe. A tug and it was fixed

 

[BlackCherry]

Ok so I just got home from my friends house and I took a look at the car. I don't get the buzzing noise with a neutral rev. The top bolts on the heat shield are tight. But the very bottom bolt is loose. I tried to tighten it but it won't budge and I don't want to strip the screw. Could the head shield be the problem? The noise doesn't seem as if it's coming from that area, so I'm not sure

 

[rjmhotrod]

Mine does the same thing from about 2200 rpm to about 3000 rpm. It drives me crazy! Sounds like it's coming from the base of the A-pillar near the dash. I thought perhaps it was a retaining clip from the A-pillar cover. Pulled the cover, rattle still there. Not sure what else to check. If I discover the cause I'll be sure to post it.

 

[drgnzadiel101]

mine is already out,both

check all your dash parts. seems like either a dash bit is loose or not tightened down all the way. another possibility is your coin tray may be loose OR some kind of coin went behind your cup holders (i have stuff slip back there all the time)

 

[BlackCherry]

No it's not a central dash noise, it's more passenger side, possibly somewhere in the corner of the engine bay.

 

[rjmhotrod]

I think I have found the offending rattle. I had my wife drive around the neighborhood while I rode in the passenger side. I pulled the A-pillar cover off and stuck my ear there and could hear the rattle resonating from inside the pillar. I opened the door and could see a plastic guard behind the left quarter panel that rattles against the the panel itself. It appears the sound is then transferred up through the pillar itself. I stuck my finger in there while she was driving (and the door was open) and the rattle stopped.

I'm not sure what the piece is called, but if you open the passenger side front door and look between the door and the quarter panel you will see a plastic guard behind the quarter panel. If you stick your finger (careful that the door doesn't shut on it) in there you can move that piece and hear the sound it makes when it rattles on the panel.

Now the question is what to do? I could jack up the car and remove the wheel well liner and see if I can get to this plastic piece to remove it altogether. Or I could try to glue the guard to the panel. Or maybe shoot some type of expanding foam in between the guard and the panel. That would certainly keep it from rattling against the metal panel.

Any other ideas?

 

[rjmhotrod]

Well I decided to jack it up and pull the wheel well liner to get a better look. It appears the plastic guard is just there to keep stuff from falling down into the inside of the quarter panel. There was a ton of leaves and dirt down in there anyway so it didn't seem to me that it was doing all that much. So I removed it. There are two plastic anchors that hold it into place. It's a little bit of a pain to get to the upper anchor but I was able to get the piece out without destroying it.

I've attached a pic of what that plastic piece looks like from inside the quarter panel (I had the wheel well liner pulled back).

After removing it, I drove it around the block. Sounds better to me, though it's a warm day today so it's hard to tell. (The rattling is definitely worse the colder it is outside). I only removed the guard from the passenger side not the driver's side. I'm still hearing some rattling on the driver's side. Might pull that one at some point too, though the worst rattling came from the passenger side.

I also discovered another buzzing piece of plastic underneath the steering column. There are three screws that hold the bottom of the steering column cover in place. One of those was loose. After tightening, that buzz was gone.

 

[Tzar177]

im not sure if this his the same has me but i also have this kind of buzzing sound around 1600 rpm...like bbgrrrrrr. always there, sometimes louder(like its hitting hard lol).If im outside, i can hear it near the hood, if i pop the hood im not able to reach it! its close to the windshield tho.

this is a video i made last summer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBuSMw9xNRY

Just saw the video. I think I'm getting that same noise but not as loud. It always happens in the 1200-1300 rpm range and only last a few to several seconds each time I hear it. I seems to be somewhere behind the radio inside the dash maybe. It doesn't happen quite long enuf for me to pinpoint it. I've even removed the radio and still can't pinpoint it. I least know its not heat shield related cuz mine were removed a long time ago

 

[alexelie]

i might take some videos when i get back from school tonight. i now have another rattle near the front passenger door. when i drop the window, i can hear it easy. its like metal hitting. near the spot rjmhotrod pointed.

 

[BlackCherry]

Can you circle the piece cause I'm still kind of confused at what your taking off

 

[rjmhotrod]

Can you circle the piece cause I'm still kind of confused at what your taking off

I will when I get the time. FYI - drove my car this morning while it was still "cold" (this is SW FL) and that rattle was gone! It's the quietest my car has been in years.

If you stand on the outside of your car and open the front passenger door, look between where the door and the front quarter panel (right front fender) meet. You'll see a piece of black plastic that runs along the edge of the panel (fender). This is some type of guard that keeps leaves and other stuff from falling into the fender area and being trapped there. Mine was full of leaves anyway. There were some pieces of foam tape on that plastic piece that had disintegrated. It looked like more of a pain to try to put tape/glue/foam in there because of the tight space (the gap between the door and fender). So I jacked the car up, took off the right front wheel and removed the wheel well liner (you don't have to pull the whole liner, just enough to give you access). This gives you access to the back side of that black plastic guard where it attaches to the panel (fender) itself. It's attached by two plastic "clips". The clips are flared so that they push into the hole in the fender but can't be pulled out. You have reach in there and squeeze those clips and push them back out. Once you have the clips released you simply pull that plastic out. Took me about an hour to do because I was a little unsure of what to expect.

 

[rjmhotrod]

Here are those pics again with arrows pointing to the piece.