Ball bearing in a tin noise

[sidpinup]

Not a problem as such but when I give my Tam full throttle in any gear there is a sound very much like a ball bearing being shaken in a tin. Sounds like its coming from the exhaust. It did it occasionally when the engine was 3.6 and now it's more noticeable with the 4.3. Does anyone have any idea? cats maybe?

Thanks

[PuffsBack]

Sounds like pinking. Try some Shell V Power and see if it goes away.

Not healthy for the engine at all and can lead to serious damage

http://www.cartechnical.co.uk/p/128-pinking-pingin...


TVR Power state you must use 97/98RON for the warranty to be valid

http://www.tvrpower.co.uk/media/pdfs/rebuild-warra...

Edited by PuffsBack on Thursday 25th October 16:05

[sidpinup]

It shouldn't be pinking as just had the powers 4.3 rebuild and I only use V power or similar anyway as its required by Doms warranty.

It definitely sounds exhaust related and seems to be coming from the lower left of the engine as you are seated in the car. About where the cats are.

[DAVEY DEE]

Can't think of a better excuse to de-cat it.....just in case.

[sidpinup]

DAVEY DEE said:

Can't think of a better excuse to de-cat it.....just in case.

Haha, I was thinking along the same lines.

[dvs_dave]

Had very similar symptoms and ruled out pinking and nobody could trace the source other than it came from the exhaust manifold area somewhere.

It did it for years and I'd just accepted it as one of the noises it makes and a random exhaust resonance on my particular car. Anyway, one day it suddenly got much worse, then something fell off the car and I watched a curved piece of metal bounce down the road behind me. At the same time the annoying resonance noise stopped.

Turned out to be one of the heat shield plates welded onto the cat cans that broke free. One of the welds had obviously fatigued and cracked allowing the plate to resonate, but still appear to be solidly fixed. Over time the rest of the welds continued to fatigue until one day they fully cracked and the heat shield fell off. As my car is decatted (gutted the standard cats) so the heat shield was superfluous anyway.

Another example of a TVR magically shedding unnecessary weight and fixing itself at the same time.

[RedSpike66]

Could be engine mounts ??

BUT it could be pinking.... Even with VPower... put some Octane Booster in and see if that makes it go away - if it does, straight back to Power. If it doesn't, straight back to Power

(see what I did there ??)

[KillerJim]

RedSpike66 said:

Could be engine mounts ??

BUT it could be pinking.... Even with VPower... put some Octane Booster in and see if that makes it go away - if it does, straight back to Power. If it doesn't, straight back to Power

(see what I did there ??)

When the engine mounts went on mine (before the re-enforced one's) I noticed a "whine" in reverse, and slightly louder transmission of engine noise.

I had slight pinking when my radiator was on the way out (even though it was checked/topped up before every run), so you may want to get that checked - it was sorted as soon as it was replaced with an aluminium one.

[sidpinup]

dvs_dave said:

Had very similar symptoms and ruled out pinking and nobody could trace the source other than it came from the exhaust manifold area somewhere.

It did it for years and I'd just accepted it as one of the noises it makes and a random exhaust resonance on my particular car. Anyway, one day it suddenly got much worse, then something fell off the car and I watched a curved piece of metal bounce down the road behind me. At the same time the annoying resonance noise stopped.

Turned out to be one of the heat shield plates welded onto the cat cans that broke free. One of the welds had obviously fatigued and cracked allowing the plate to resonate, but still appear to be solidly fixed. Over time the rest of the welds continued to fatigue until one day they fully cracked and the heat shield fell off. As my car is decatted (gutted the standard cats) so the heat shield was superfluous anyway.

Another example of a TVR magically shedding unnecessary weight and fixing itself at the same time.

I think you may have nailed it. It does sound like a plate rattling at high frequency. I will get under the car ant take a look. May decat anyway.

Thanks

[Basil Brush]

Might be worth checking the alignment of the large cat clamps as well, as the lower one's bolt ends can be very close to the engine under tray depending how they've been fitted.

[Sevenman]

I had a similar issue, and it seems to have been fixed by replacing some exhaust mounting rubbers that were a bit tired and may have given the exhaust more movement than it needed.

It wasn't a good noise when it happened and lead to one overtake stopping part-way through when it started.

[gralin69]

Ed out of curiosity just found with my Tuscan that have a similar noise (rattling loose nut in a can a little like the sound of some ferrari's) from somewhere in the enginge bay that is more noticable around 3000rpm and above may not be same as but if i turn on the aircon it stops it seems it is related to the aircon clutch mechanism some way, least of me probs at mo though as Clutch slave has failed good luck

[sidpinup]

I don't have aircon so I guess it's a different issue to yours. Mine also occurs higher up the rev range. I had a quick look underneath and I think it's the heat shield on the exhaust. Will update here when I can confirm its fixed. Thanks for the help.

[Jalfonse]

My Tam has the same noise too, I think it's a heat shield, mine comes and goes quite randomly. Will have it checked at next service, or let it fall off ;-)

[Robertjp]

KillerJim said:

When the engine mounts went on mine (before the re-enforced one's) I noticed a "whine" in reverse, and slightly louder transmission of engine noise.

I had slight pinking when my radiator was on the way out (even though it was checked/topped up before every run), so you may want to get that checked - it was sorted as soon as it was replaced with an aluminium one.

sorry slightly O/T but how did you reinforce your engine mounts? did you use these?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TVR-Chimaera-Griff-Griff...