Hi there,
My corolla (04 AT 114K miles) makes some rattling / friction noise when engine is hot.
Here is the vid where you can hear the noise (comes when revs go down).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZVzQPg-Cac
What could it be?
By
kalatoza, March 7, 2014
Hi there,
My corolla (04 AT 114K miles) makes some rattling / friction noise when engine is hot.
Here is the vid where you can hear the noise (comes when revs go down).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZVzQPg-Cac
What could it be?
Could be any number of things.
You mentioned 2002 model year - are you going by model year or date of manufacturer? What market car - US or UK/JDM/etc.? Here in the US, a 2002 Corolla uses a tubular metal intake manifold, yours is the composite one that didn't come around until the 2003 model year for us.
That said - given your mileage and generation of Corolla. First thing that pops into my head is the belt tensioner could be failing on your car. It has a distinctive rattle when the revs drop - can be heard regardless if the engine cold or warm - though tends to get worse as the engine warms up.
Other than that - could be combustion chamber detonation - you have enough mileage to have a significant amount of deposits in the engine, those could cause hot spots that manifest as that rattle. Sparkplugs should have been replaced by now, if they haven't already.
What's the maintenance history of the car? Frequency of fluid and filter changes, type of engine oil used, when you first noticed this rattling, any recent repairs/work done on the car?
I'm very sorry, car is 2004 model not 2002. US model.
I thought about belt tensioner but could this heavy rattling be coming from that little bearing? Also it comes only sometimes (for example after long city driving)...
Nothing to mention about car history beside these:
- I've just discovered oil leak , probably from chain tensioner (after some research it seems to be common problem)
- Oil changes were 5k-7k miles 5w-30
- Once , after oil change service , oil light came on and I stopped the car after 100-150 meters... It turned out that filter wasn't there anymore.. not sure what happened. (This was before ~ 2 years 90k miles.. )
This is my to do list:
- spark plugs
- manifold gasket
- belt tensioner
- belt
- pcv valve
- chain tensioner
Is there any chances that these steps will help that noise? 
edit: I first noticed sound at 105-110 miles
Correct - timing chain tensioner, especially with this sort of miles on the engine, it is common to see it weep some oil past the o-ring. Pretty simple fix, just replace it the entire tensioner and o-ring, relatively inexpensive part.
As for the loss of oil - as long as you stopped the car immediately after discovering it lost oil - should be OK. Sounds like you didn't get very far - but something to keep in mind down the road. Damage from that doesn't always show up immediately.
Belt tensioner was one of the most common noise complaint on that generation - so replacing that will be important. That rest of the items you have listed on there, would be good to have done anyways.
