Just a guess-catalyst broken loose and rattling around in the converter

Ray

pickle vanagon wrote:
> So....
> for the past couple of days, pickle has been producing a very frustrating
> noise.  It's a loud clicking sound, that, as far as we can tell, seems to be
> coming from the engine compartment area.
>
> When you hear it from the front, it sounds like it must be an interior part
> rattling.  It doesn't click with any "rate", let alone a rate that
> corresponds at all to engine or wheel speed.  This is why I rule out cv
> joints (which are brand new, and have no loose bolts---I just checked) and
> wheel bearings.  Sometimes it "rattles" *very* quickly, other times
> intermittently.  But again, no direct relation to any mechanical speed in
> the van.  There is, however, a correlation between the noise and
> acceleration.
>
> But then when you sit in the back and look for it, it seems like its not
> coming from inside.  I've looked all over, removed all sorts of interior
> items (and folded out the bed, etc), and it doesn't fix the noise.  And,
> when you take the cushion out of the trunk, it sounds like the noise is
> coming from the engine bay.
>
> I also checked whether it could be exhaust headers hitting the engine
> support bar, and it doesn't look like it.
>
> Any suggestions as to what this could be?  It sounds kind of like a large
> relay going on and off intermittently out of control.  In any case, other
> than driving us nuts, it doesn't seem to have any impact on performance.
>
> I've spent some time under the van looking over everything for "loose ends",
> but to no avail.
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
>
> -Wes
>
>