• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Clanking sound coming from engine near passenger side. Possibly water pump related?

C

ContourStrike

New CEG'er
Joined
Mar 18, 2004
Messages
16
Location
Santa Monica, CA
Hey everyone. Been a while since I've been to the site as I haven't been able to work on my car like I've wanted to since moving out of my house. Glad to know that it's still kicking (ass).

I recently added some coolant and distilled water to my reservoir since I was getting the coolant light while on a gradient. I filled it up, but ended up pouring a bit too much into the container and the excess came out of the safety "straw" that sticks out of the reservoir.

A week or so later I noticed this horrible sound coming from my engine. It sounds as if there's a can being shaken and a tooth is trapped in it. It's a very loud rattling sound that coincides with the RPM of my engine. It's on the passenger side, away from the water pump itself.

I don't have any realistic idea of what it is.

Clues so far:

1) Occurred after filling up my coolant reservoir.
2) Rattles coincide with my engine. As the RPM climbs, the rattling becomes more prolific. Think: Clank clank clank clank. :)
3) I put my car in neutral and it still rattles with the engine as I hit the gas. I rule out the transmission due to this (?).
4) Performance seems slightly affected. I don't seem to hit the secondaries as easily now as I hit the floor. Maybe that's just in my head, but that's the way it now seems.
5) Spark plugs have not been changed in who knows how long. Maybe that's it?
6) Bear in mind that this is quite loud and is at a fairly high pitch.


I implore ye for help. I can't take it into a mechanic anytime soon as I'm helping my family move out of their house and have to get some of my own stuff out. (OK and I also have a date tomorrow :) )

Edit: No CEL obviously.
 
Last edited:
OK so after a few days of this happening, I can't turn over the engine. I turn the key and my starter clicks. My wipers turn on for some reason. My battery is able to light up the cabin and turn on the radio and such but it just won't turn over the engine. I don't know what to do. Definitely not the water pump.


:(
 
maybe yur alternator, when mine went, it would cause the wipers to come on for no reason when i tried to start it, the knocking might be to do with the little cuppling thing in the waterpump housing, maybe it came loose and is grinding on the impellar and has jammed it or causing the noise, have u tried to charge the battery up? hope u sort it buddy :(
 
Svttour: Motor is not "bye bye" please don't say these things unless you are reasonably ready to back your statements up.


your battery likely shot. enough juice to power the cabin but not enough to start.
trickle charge your battery and try again... clena the battery terminals well (don't just"wiggle test" the terminals.. actually take them off and clean them)

start the car.,.. read voltage on the terminals.. it should be ~13.1-13.4vdc if its not, look at the alternator.

if it is, shut the car off.. turn on the headlights for 60 seconds, and measure voltage on the terminals.. should be 12.0vdc or higher if not, replace the battery.. and move on with your life.
 
Last edited:
motor bye bye?

Are you guys mental? Its the alternator, in fact, I put money on it.

Charge your battery, clean the battery terminals and try to start it. If it starts, which it will, its your alternator.
 
AliasJerk said:
motor bye bye?

Are you guys mental? Its the alternator, in fact, I put money on it.

Charge your battery, clean the battery terminals and try to start it. If it starts, which it will, its your alternator.
Click to expand...


i did say alternator, i had the same happen to me when mine went, charged the battery up all night and it still drained it when i got home, its tricky replacing the alternator but i still did it :)
 
fred22 said:
maybe yur alternator, when mine went, it would cause the wipers to come on for no reason when i tried to start it, the knocking might be to do with the little cuppling thing in the waterpump housing, maybe it came loose and is grinding on the impellar and has jammed it or causing the noise, have u tried to charge the battery up? hope u sort it buddy :(
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up.

The story thus far...

I originally posted this issue a few days ago with only the sound to worry about. Then, after a while, every time I tried to start the car, the car would seem to drain the battery trying to turn the engine over. After learning about the havoc that humidity can wreak on my battery terminals, I went ahead and cleaned them off as I was hoping that may have been the problem. It was indeed a bit crusty, but not crusty enough to cause any problems starting the car IMO (bear in mind I had this problem before with the car turning over and simply had to clean the terminals).

I drive my car about 3 miles and turn her off. I try and start her up but I get the above symptoms.

I end up getting a jump start and it was just fine. The car can run; sound and everything.

So is that clanking sound part of the problem? Is everything interrelated? It does seem like at this point that it's either the alternator or the battery.... BUT that doesn't explain the sound coming from the passenger side of the engine. I had four people so far give their guess as to what it is and nobody seems to know.

Could somebody explain to me why the battery can power the cabin but not turn the engine over? A workflow of how the battery and alternator coordinate together to make the car run would help me a lot.

Thanks guys.
 
(I took way too long to post the previous response.)

I'll definitely look at the battery today and alternator tomorrow if need be but... The sound is still a mystery. Sorry to sound like a noob (and my haynes manual is lost somewhere in time), but I've never dealt with the alternator before. It IS on the passenger side is it not?
 
The alternator is spun via the serpentine belt when the crank turns, it turns the belt, which turns the alternator. the alternator is nothing more than a generator. physical spinning passes brushes across coils and generates voltage. this voltage is passed to the battery via a large positive cable that runs along the firewall to the battery Positive terminal.

The negative path is from the alternator to a chassis ground then through the chassis itself, out of the chassis to the battery's negative terminal.

The battery requires very little current to power the radio, and lights. It requires substantial current to start the car. you can power a car's interior services on as little as 8-9V and 100-200 milliamps of current. Your battery is likely somewhere in the realm of 500-550CCAs to START the car.

Is your "charge" light on? The sound COULD be related.. and if so it COULD be a pulley/tensioner on the serpentine belt's path making that noise (incidentally causing the belt to slip/causing insufficient charging)

Note that it doesn't have to be the ALT pulley.. it can be ANY pulley or tensioner. remove the belt with a 3/8 breaker bar in the tensioner slot and check each pulley/tensioner for play and slop.

Edit: yes.. the alt is on the passenger side, lower firewall. oh.. and ther waterpump is on the DRIVER'S side, run by a belt off of the cams.
 
Ray said:
Svttour: Motor is not "bye bye" please don't say these things unless you are reasonably ready to back your statements up.


your battery likely shot. enough juice to power the cabin but not enough to start.
trickle charge your battery and try again... clena the battery terminals well (don't just"wiggle test" the terminals.. actually take them off and clean them)

start the car.,.. read voltage on the terminals.. it should be ~13.1-13.4vdc if its not, look at the alternator.

if it is, shut the car off.. turn on the headlights for 60 seconds, and measure voltage on the terminals.. should be 12.0vdc or higher if not, replace the battery.. and move on with your life.
Click to expand...


I was referring to the clanking noise that he said was coming from the passenger side rear of the engine bay. First off the waterpump is on the other side of the motor and has nothing to do with a clanking noise. 2nd he said that the noise would accelerate with more throttle. These are all signs of a rod knock to me. Maybe if he would have been a little bit clearer on how he is trying to state the several problems he is having with his car I would have came up with a different deduction.

"A week or so later I noticed this horrible sound coming from my engine. It sounds as if there's a can being shaken and a tooth is trapped in it. It's a very loud rattling sound that coincides with the RPM of my engine. It's on the passenger side, away from the water pump itself.

I don't have any realistic idea of what it is.

Clues so far:

1) Occurred after filling up my coolant reservoir.
2) Rattles coincide with my engine. As the RPM climbs, the rattling becomes more prolific. Think: Clank clank clank clank.
3) I put my car in neutral and it still rattles with the engine as I hit the gas. I rule out the transmission due to this (?).
4) Performance seems slightly affected. I don't seem to hit the secondaries as easily now as I hit the floor. Maybe that's just in my head, but that's the way it now seems."
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all the help so far.

The serpentine belt appears fine. I changed it myself about 2 years ago and haven't driven my car for more than about 5 - 4k miles since the change. Wear is at a maximum 2 years + 5K miles. I haven't seen any irregularities with the pulleys and inspected it from above etc... and no the charge light is not on. :)

UPDATE:

So I took my battery to autozone and had them check it out. The battery started smelling up the place with the sweet stench that only sulfur can produce. After accidentally tasting the heavenly gas, I ended up getting a new Duracraft battery. (Incidentally, I had a Motorcraft brand battery. The thing lasted for at least 5 years and may have even been in the car for longer than that since I got the car used with it...)

Now my car starts up just fine (tried two starts so far) but the sound remains. In fact, it sounds a bit different today. The rattling is getting higher in pitch and a bit more random. I swear there's a tooth of a child rattling in there somewhere***!

Timing is horrible in this situation. I used to do my maintenance and repair at my mom's house but now her house is in escrow etc so I can't change the alternator myself. Too many people moving in and out of there for me to do my work.


A few more questions: :)

What price should I expect to pay for the labor on the alternator work in the Los Angeles area?
How many charges do most batteries have to turn the motor over? Maybe 10? My SV650 had about that amount.
Is the alternator part usually in stock? I don't want to be stranded for weeks without my car. My boss is waiting over a month now to get his 2006 Mustang GT back and I really don't want to be in his situation. :blackeye:
Could the battery have gone bad because of the Alternator? I ask this because if the part does take a while to get, I may still drive my car, but if the battery went dead because of it, then I'm obviously going to stop driving.

Next stop: Mechanic. :(


*** Simpsons quote:
Bart: Dr. Wolfe likes to pull kids' teeth so he can sell 'em.
Kid: To who?
Bart: Know that rattle when you shake up a can of spray paint? That's a kid's teeth!
 
either way.. now that you have a fresh battery, check your voltage at the battery terminals while running to make sure you don't have an OVER voltage problem (more than 14.0 volts or so)

that would cause battery breakdown and a sulfur smell..
 
Regarding the noise, you could eliminate any of the accessories by removing the serpentine belt and then run the engine for a few minutes to see if the noise is still there.
Karl
 
98SVTC said:
Regarding the noise, you could eliminate any of the accessories by removing the serpentine belt and then run the engine for a few minutes to see if the noise is still there.
Karl
Click to expand...



That's exactly what happened when I took it into the mechanic!!'

Crap!

The noise is still there when the belt was removed. It's the engine itself! Damn damn damn. It's going to be $300 for them to just take the engine apart in order to find out what's wrong... then who knows what will happen.

The mechanic said the noise is coming from underneath the power steering pump.

And...


The oil was extremely dirty. The oil had this grayness to it... very very dirty. To me it looked as if it was a watery lead-type mixture.

What the hell could it possibly be? I don't know what to do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top