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ticking sound

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:23 pm
by shantybeater
I get a strange ticking sound when around 2500rpm, i only really notice it in 2nd gear but its loud enough to hear when the radios off. It's not just me hallucinating either, one of my mates could hear it when sat in the passenger seat.

As soon as I slow down or speed up though its gone? any ideas ppl?

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:06 pm
by rabbit82
whats the mileage?
Could be piston slap which is quite expensive to repair, however no one would be able to say exactly what it is without hearing it. Could you get a sound clip of it?

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:12 pm
by 1 GTI
Thats kind of similar to whats happening to mine, only noticed it about 2 days ago. The noise on my car is coming from the front passenger side to middleish if you get me. Really annoying me now

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:13 pm
by 1 GTI
Could I ask what piston slap is? How is it caused and how can it be sorted?

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:04 pm
by ticki
Is it almost a knocking sound?

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:04 pm
by shantybeater
I'll do my best to get a clip, but i reckon it will be difficult over engine noise

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:08 pm
by shantybeater
just missed your post, its more of a tin'ey' kind of sound, and its at quite a rapid speed...kind of confusing to explain

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:31 am
by ticki
Its not piston slap like someone suggested earlier.

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:35 am
by Bryony84
I get something similar to this but its usually when I take my foot off the accelerator. Its a kind of tinny grating/buzzing sort of sound.

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:03 am
by shantybeater
Bryony84 wrote:I get something similar to this but its usually when I take my foot off the accelerator. Its a kind of tinny grating/buzzing sort of sound.
Yeah that sounds about right, mine only does it at a certain rev range though, so if im at 3000rpm and lift off it will make the noise and then go..but if i hold it at around 2700rpm i can keep the noise going..its really annoying!

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:19 am
by Bryony84
Yup, that sounds very similar to my noise. Its been there quite a long time now and never seems to get any worse, its just there. No idea what it could be though.

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:00 pm
by rabbit82
probably not piston slap, piston slap sounds more like a bag of spanners around the engine bay.

FRom the description it sounds like it could be a wheel bearing? Or possibly the flywheel>

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:37 pm
by Si_GTi
I get a similar sort of high-pitched buzzing/whining sound at a similar point in the rev range too, around 2700-3100 revs. Really wierd, but it hasn't affected performance or fuel economy so I'm not too worried about it. Would be nice to track it down though!

Because the noise comes from the front passenger-side of the car I originally thought it may be the front nearside wheel bearing but I figured that if it were the bearing, it would happen all the time regardless of revs or speed?

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:14 pm
by rabbit82
Si_GTi wrote:I get a similar sort of high-pitched buzzing/whining sound at a similar point in the rev range too, around 2700-3100 revs. Really wierd, but it hasn't affected performance or fuel economy so I'm not too worried about it. Would be nice to track it down though!

Because the noise comes from the front passenger-side of the car I originally thought it may be the front nearside wheel bearing but I figured that if it were the bearing, it would happen all the time regardless of revs or speed?
not necessarily, the wheel bearing went on my Golf GTI some years ago and it had the same 'symptoms' and the noise would only come in at a certain rev range.

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:19 pm
by Dangerous Dave
The noise could be your timing belt tensioner (however this is on the drivers side) or as people have said a wheel bearing. Best to get it looked over by someone.