Jim NotreDame IN Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 this is my 2nd vehicle with a 3800 under the hood, and they both were prone to this rattling noise from under the hood that sounds like a heat shield coming loose. in both vehicles, i've tried wiggling the shields and retightening them and everything... what is the deal that makes the 3800 engine create this noise? it only happens when accelerating moderately, i can't get the noise to happen in neutral, its only with a load on the engine. hope its not the tranny.... any advice of what to look into? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EDBS0 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Harmonic balancer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim NotreDame IN Posted March 14, 2008 Author Share Posted March 14, 2008 what do those interchange with? is the reatta's one specific? funny you mention that, i had to remove it to change my cam position sensor magnet and timing set, and its made that noise ever since, but i didn't realize the coincidence until now. it was a bastard to get off. my nice new impact hammer wouldn't do it and a breaker bar with a pipe wouldn't do it, i just kept turning the engine over. a friend at a shop told me to put the wrench on it and turn the engine over with the wrench braced against the frame horn. one of those tricks that you never advise other people to do, but you sometimes do yourself. that did the trick, but i bet you're right. any other possibilities? is there a chance that i've got some chatter in the valvetrain or a bad accessory pulley or something else or is this pretty common? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Very connon. As a matter of fact last fall I was at my favorite u-pick lot when one of the guys there told me that a '90 Riv had just came in that was nice. I asked what was wrong with it, and the guy said a woman drove it in, saying that she was told the motor was bad, so she sold it for salvage. The guy cut the serpentine belt fired it up, no noise! He still put it out in the yard as he can get more in parts then he could selling it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Very common. As a matter of fact last fall I was at my favorite u-pick lot when one of the guys there told me that a '90 Riv had just came in that was nice. I asked what was wrong with it, and the guy said a woman drove it in, saying that she had been told elsewhere that the motor was bad, so she sold it for salvage. The guy cut the serpentine belt fired it up, no noise! He still put it out in the yard as he can get more in parts then he could selling it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machiner 55 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 My experience with the harmonic balancer noise was that it would go away at higher RPM's but be noisy as hell at idle. Sounded tumbling nuts & bolts in a bucket. Do a search on "harmonic" or "balancer" you'll get lotsa info.Re. other noises onder the hood. My Tx, at times, makes noises I'd rather not hear. It has been doing this for some time but haven't experienced any degradation in performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EDBS0 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 About $90. Given the difficulty just replace with new.You likely can see the rubber starting to crack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machiner 55 Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 My poor 89 Riv., driven by my Son, had the Cat. fall off along the road somewhere. Makes a hell of a racket when there’s a foot and a half section of pipe missing.I just got around to replacing it today. I asked if there were any other problems that I should be aware of. He said. "Yah, before the converter fell off, the engine was making a lot of noise and the transmission wasn’t shifting right."(<span style="font-style: italic">I have to add here that I started the car while it was up on the stands prior to dropping the Tx pan and it was making a lot of racket then also.</span>)The car was already up on stands so I decided to drop the Tx. pan since the gasket looked like it was leaking a bit. After replacing the cat., filter, pan gasket and lowering the car, I started the engine and started replacing the Tx fluid that drained out during the filter change. But holy crap, there was a hell of a noise coming from the engine compartment. At first, I swear (a lot) it sounded like the harmonic balancer was bad again! It responded the same way to RPM changes. Very noisy at idle and gradually fading away as RPM increased. I figured that this was the noise the boy was talking about. He wasn’t around to ask so it’s an assumption on my part. Anyway… I checked all over the engine and it seemed that the noise was more apparent on the drivers side of the compartment. At this point I was almost convinced that it was the heat shields around the cross-over pipe that were rattling. But a more thorough inspection ruled that out. I continued putting Tx. fluid in. First, the 4.5 quarts that came out at the filter change, then another two quarts (a half pint at a time) on top of that. At the addition of every half pint, after the initial 4.5 pints, the noise was reduced accordingly until it was completely gone. So, I guess that when the transmission fluid gets low by two or more quarts it can get quite noisy. Boy reports that the car is now quiet and has never shifted better.Anyway… The noise coming from you car probably isn’t the Tx. But it probably wouldn’t hurt to check the level. According to the FSM, the most accurate method of checking the fluid level is to:1.) Park the car on level ground.2.) Apply the parking brake and block the wheels.3.) Start the engine and operate the vehicle for 15 minutes or until a normal operating temperature is reached (190*-200*F).4.) Move the gear selector through all gear positions.5.) Place gear selector in "Park" (P).6.) Check fluid level, color and condition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim NotreDame IN Posted March 16, 2008 Author Share Posted March 16, 2008 i replaced my balancer today, and the noise went away for the most part. you can still hear a little bit of rattle at certain rpm's under load, but i'm convinced that this is due to accessory pulleys being 20 years old. the original noise that i was hearing, you had to be nitpicky to hear anyway. i'll let you know if i find anyhting else out that could be a culprit... i bought a new tranny filter so i'll be doing the change in the next few days. how many quarts? your post above gave a few different numbers, but what is the total amount, and what amount should you put in before you start the vehicle to put in the rest? thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest craig hewitt Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 easy way to tell balancer being bad is take the belt off and run the engine noise gone 90% balancer fault !!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest campolojr Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Well glad to hear it went away Jim. I have some rattling myself but I looked today and my rear heat shield is totally loose with no in it bolts just flapping in the wind so I am going to run to Ace Hardware in the morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machiner 55 Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">how many quarts? your post above gave a few different numbers, but what is the total amount, and what amount should you put in before you start the vehicle to put in the rest? thanks. </div></div>In my case I drained 4.5 quarts but had to put in a total of 7 quarts to bring it to the proper level. (Sha-Zayam!!!)Regarding fluid capacities, the FSM says a drain and refill should require 6.0 quarts and that after a complete overhaul, the transaxle will take 11.0 quarts.It might be a good idea to insure that the Tx has the proper level prior to dropping the pan, measure the amount that came out when you drained it, then just put that amount of fresh Tx fluid back in.If you want to get really heavy into it you could perform the procedure outlined in a post by our beloved F14 some time ago and get all of the fluid changed out.Here is a link to his post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim NotreDame IN Posted March 17, 2008 Author Share Posted March 17, 2008 what did he do? turn the engine over to pump the fluid out of all of the circuits after removing the pan? what did he do, i'm curious now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machiner 55 Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 All I know is what is stated in his post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machiner 55 Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">what amount should you put in before you start the vehicle to put in the rest? </div></div>I forgot to add this from the FSM:5.) Oil Pan bolts (15 lbs. ft.)6.) Lower vehicle.7.) Fill transaxle to proper level with DEXTRON II fluid or equivalent. 9.) Check "Cold" fluid level reading for initial fill. Do not overfill.10.) Follow the "Transaxle Fluid Level Checking Procedure" in Section 7A of this Service Manual.11.) Check oil pan gasket for leaks.NOTE:Item #5 says to tighten the pan bolts to 15 foot pounds. On another page of the manual it says 10 foot pounds. The instructions that came with the gasket/ filter set also says 10 foot pounds (120 inch pounds). I used 120 inch pounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadster90 Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 STOP!Check with Reatta.net (documentation)or Chas1 for a factory Bulletin (TSB or Product Circular)before installing a new pan gasket on your tranny...there is a procedure that calls for a specific Loctite to be applied to the bolts/studs to alleviate leaks.....Also only use a specific type of gasket/set....EDBSO...need your help here (I forgot the name of the gasket/set...is a rubber type of material...not cork). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machiner 55 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Hello Nic,Now that you mention it, I do recall a previous post regarding Loctite on the pan bolts. Oh well, too late for me but the warning will help Jim ND IN and others. As for the gasket, the set I purchased came with the "rubber" one and not the impregnated cork type.I lost my password for the document section of reatta.net so I'm now waiting on them to send me a new one.Sincerely,John F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 (edited) ZZZ Edited August 2, 2009 by CHAS1 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machiner 55 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 OK, thanks. I gots the blue Loctite. I gots the red Loctite and I gots the green Loctite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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