(G) Finally the rattle is gone! JTD owners read here

evening all

I've been doing loads of searching on this, and other forums over the past year about an annoying (and embarrassing) rattle on my Stilo.

Basically, on a cold morning there is a nasty sounding metallic rattle coming from under the bonnet on the passengers side. The rattle is pretty constant in rhythm and seems to fade around 2krpm and dissapears above that. The rattle goes completely once the engine has warmed up, and seems to be related to the outside temperature, as on a cold day it rattles like crazy then slowly fades away. This is for about 25 mins of driving on a 5degrees or below day, 10 mins for about 15 degrees and the problem is not there at all on a summers day at about 25degrees and above.
Stranglely on a very cold day it can warm up, and dissappear while driving around town, then after driving at steady revs on a motorway for hours I come to a junction and the engine is put in neutral and annoyingly the rattle (although quiet) reappears!

As i'm sure you can guess, this is driving me crazy.

I've almost come to the conclusion it's something to do with the Crank/Aux Pulley being worn, however all the posts I've read mention the rattle for this should be coming from the drivers side of the bonnet, not the passengers, where mine seems to come from.

There really seems to be some clued up bods on here, so if you could please please take the time to give your opinions as to what is wrong with my very sick car i'd be very grateful indeed.

Thanks

Mike

Search for crank shaft pulley. Probably you need a new one. About £90 for the part and easy for any garage to change. It may sound like it is coming from elsewhere due to engine under tray/ plastic covers around the engine.
How many miles has it done?

My 54 plate JTD has this rattle too. As did the 03 plate JTD i test drove earlier this year.

I couldnt work out if it's coming from the engine bay or behind the dash on the passenger side. Mine too, dissappears as the engine warms up. It doesnt bother me too much but it just makes the car appear like a bag of ****e to any passengers i have, which is annoying as it's actually not a bad car at all.

i have this rattle too John, and it does feel as if its right behind the dash. it started when i had the cambelt changed. it goes when rpm is above 1000.

is the crankshaft pulley different to the cambelt one?

is it dangerous if not changed? its been like this for over a year

It is different from the cam shaft, although you do have to take it off to change the cam belt.

It is dangerous to the health of your engine because the pulley can break free, smash the thin plastic cam belt cover which knocks the cam belt off. Then it is new engine time. Get it fixed now or you will have a very big bill or scrapping the car if it does break off.
Any mechanic should be able to quickly diagnose and easily change the crank shaft pulley.

The failed pulley makes a loud clatter which is much louder outside the car than in.

took the car to my nearest Fiat Dealers today (miles away in Bury) Fustratingly the noise had disappeared by the time I got there. I tried my best to explain to the chap what kind of noise it was and he said it was best to leave the car there and they will look at. The really annoying thing was the noise was back when I got home!?!?

He said there's no common faults on the JTD regarding aux pulleys, and pointed out both belts are on the drivers side of the car, not on the passengers side, although due to soundproofing it could sound like the sound was coming out of the other side to the problem area.

To be honest I wasn't overly impressed with the subject knowledge available. Every question I had (asked about the steering as well, and juddering wipers) was met with you have to leave it with us... I wish they'd told me this the other day, and I wouldn't have travelled so far to see them. But fair play the guy didn't have much to go on.

Looked at a Bravo, 150 diesel. Not overly impressed, was even more put off when the sakes guy told me it was £21k on the road and tried to sell me one with 10k on the clock for £17k- Looked on the Fiat website and even with every extra it's nowhere near that price. I simply handed the keys back and politely thanked him for his help.

So where does that leave me? Might fook off fiat all together and go to a local place

Have you tried sticking your ear next to the EGR when you can hear this rattle? Have a look HERE if you dont know where it is. They can sometimes rattle when warn. Would explain why it always stops at 2krpm.

Alan

my rattle is only audible from the inside. it seems to be behind the upper glovebox area.

also, wouldnt they have noticed a failing crankshaft pulley when they did the cambelt last week?

thats exactly the same as what I have mate.... i'm gonna get another place to look at it. Forgot to mention in my last post that at the Fiat place I fired up another Stilo diesel and it was so much more refined than mine, so something is definately up.

this threat may interest a few people here...
for the past year i've been trying to work out why my Jtd Stilo rattles from the engine when inside (on the passenger side of the car) when cold. The sound was like a metallic tapping and was only there when the engine was at idle... fading away when the engine was warmed up, or was not there at all on a hot day.I tried changing oil to synthetic and looked at the crankshaft pulley as directed by members here but the noise was still there.

I remember a few people on here have or had the same problem and some simply put it down to one of the many quirks of the car.

Well I can gladly say the problem is now solved. The problem lies with a worn gearbox mounting, which leads to metal on metal contact when the car is cold (and the engine is vibrating more). The solution = a one inch square cut piece of tyre around the worn part! Rattle no more!!

I can't believe how refined the engine now sounds.... fantastic!

Thanks for that ..but can I ask why didn't you just change the worn mounting..later on it might fail completely..

apparently the mounting was still secure, but had worn and didn't warrant a complete replacement... just needed cushioning.

Ohh... Just the answer to my problem... Could you upload some photos of where to place the piece of rubber, or better, do a "how to..."?

Thanks a lot...

+1 - I have had this "death rattle" for about 3 years now and was resigned to just living with it but if you could show us where to stick the rubber spacer that would be one more thing I can cross of my list of things to do.

i couldnt put my finger on the rattle no matter how hard i tried. i even disassembled the glovebox!

any idea on price and work involved in changing the mount? as i'd rather take the safer option and change it altogether