Bizarre Engine Noise
 

Hello gents,

I have a strange-ass engine noise occuring. It sounds like it's coming from inside the engine right under the intake manifold. I checked around the engine for any loose heatshields and I'm almost 100% positive it's not that.

It happens consistently from around 3,000RPM and up, although it gets less noticeable past 5,000 (not sure if the other engine noises are just drowning it out or what).



I was trying to hold the RPMs steady but the engine was too fucking hot.

Thanks guys!

Did you clunker it?

Maybe its the turbo?

Very strange... I suppose you could remove the valve cover and see if anything obvious sticks out on the top end of it. I'd also pull the spark plugs and have a look for any strange discoloration.

Any wobble in any of the pulleys?
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Thanks for the quick responses!

I had the valve cover off last week and everything looked fine, no obvious metal shards or anything else. I'll pull the spark plugs when I get a chance.

I just changed the front crankbolt (yes, my car is SNC) but there hasn't been any wobble in the crank pulley or any of the other ones. The noise occured before I even did that as well.

The car runs fine, makes plenty of power and doesn't have any other bad noises. I'm worried about taking it to another autocross/track day without at least knowing what the noise is. I'm taking it to a Spec Miata specialist in my area next tuesday so I guess I'll just pray he knows whats going on! I'd appreciate any other input.

sounds like a monsters in your engine

Just a quick update:

Turns out the noise had to do with the bolt on the bottom of my alternator. It seems that the nut on the end had decided to take a little vacation and my alternator was rattling around (the most terrible sounding rattle in the world, I might add). So with a new nut on there, it sounds "good as new".

Epix fail on my part, I thought my engine was f***ed so I missed signing up for most of the auto-xes this month and all of last month :cry: I'm not that great but check out the ~2 mile course we ran in June!



Thanks for your replies everyone.

Looks like you need stickier tires. Glad it was only a bolt and not a rod!