Mine was making the noise.I had my mechanic feel around the timing belt.He said it wasn't too tight or too loose.It seemed to have gone away for now but I know what needs to be changed if it starts to make noise again.I have 13,700 K by the way.Thanks for the info!

I spent over $1,000.00 to replace belts and pulleys and after about 300 miles the noise slowly returned. I really hope there is an answer to this problem.

Great thread please keep me updated

+1 on my old IX block...

When I brought in for service a while ago I got the same "normal" noise BS. After months of bull, the noise was coming from a combination of the power steering pump and the idler pulley. Both "known problems". And from under the car, there was a noticeable metalic noise.

The metalic rubbing (also mentioned in this thread) was rod knock, most audible from under the car. Another "known problem" is the fuel injectors get stuck open, leak past the rings and lean out the oil. Ruins the bearings, etc.

I am not saying everyone here has the same issue, but if you pull the belt and don't hear that "metalic noise" from the pulley, push them (stealership) to do a leak down test over night. If it holds compression, push them to pull the rail and injectors, place dry rags under the injectors, and see if they leak over night. If you are dumping black smoke under hard throttle, do this. Otherwise, this is all "normal operation"

I posted because my issues seemed to start with the symptoms described in this thread. If you are given any trouble, understand and be able to speak to the M&M Act Title 15, Chapter 50, Sections 2301 - 2312. http://autopedia.com/html/HotLinks_LemonMM2.html In dealing with the district service manager, I think sections 2303, 2304 and 2308 were the most helpful. If things persist, document everything.

Howd you know about the injectors being stuck open? My oil always smells like gas, but its like that in all past turbo cars I've owned.

My oil did not, and has not since smelled like gas.

1. Oil smelled like gas.
2. Upend dipstick, watched the oil run down it like water.
3. With fuel pressure in the line, left the injectors sit over a rag over night. In the morning, there was gas on the rag.

Okay, so my car has been at Mitsu for the past two days with a power steering issue and they are also attempting to silence the infamous "grinding squishing metallic" noise coming from the engine bay....

At first, the motor was not replicating the sound (of course), so I left it overnight for the tech to examine. As he said, "the engine knows when you are listening to it" and it decided to stay quiet...

About two hours ago they called me and I went back down there to listen for the noise with the tech (who has been fixing Mitsu cars for 34 years, and has never seen an issue with EVOs such as this). I brought my laptop and played the video provided in this thread (thank you)! Afterwards, we started up the car and he revved it up a bit... Now, after worrying for two days that the sound was going to continue hiding from us, a smile shot across my face as if the Allman Brothers has just taken the stage and I was sitting in the front row... as soon as he let off the gas the noise began reverberating from the engine bay. God, I hate that noise. The tech quickly removed the timing belt cover and poured water on the belt. As soon as he did so, the noise stopped completely. His analysis was simple, either the timing belt is too tight due to the tensioner not functioning correctly...or I need a new timing belt. *Shrug* He is going to proceed with the strip-down of the timing belt assembly and contact me tomorrow.

I will post his findings once I return from the dealership tomorrow.

I hope this helps...

-Carl

For anyone taking the car in for the same noise... I would have the tech or
service manager listen and verify the noise before leaving the car there.

My car doesn't make that noise when engine is cold.

As I said, they were working on an issue with my power steering (more important) which is why the car was left at the dealership overnight.

Also, they couldn't verify the noise because it wasn't prevalent during the 20 minutes I spent with the service manager when I initially dropped the car off.

-Carl

Hopefully yours wasnt factory crossthreaded like mine.

This is Spent198 on my friend's computer... Are you saying the bolts holding the assembly together were cross-threaded?!! That would really suck, because I bet they would assume that you had either A) Installed new camshafts, or B) Had opened the assembly for some other reason... And thus would deny you warranty, correct?

-Carl

The powersteering idler pulley bolt had been crossthreaded and overtorqued. Short of replacing that bracket and part of the front case (the area around the AC) there were precious few options to get it fixed. That and it is in the worst place possible to have to fix. We ran a tap through it and got it fixed but it has loosened up at least once and shredded the drive belt. I think I am going to have to helicoil it, and again its not in a very convienent area.

Sorry for not being clear on exactly was crossthreaded.

Yuck, I'm crossing my fingers.

Okay, so the tech just called me and told me that the timing belt tensioner was not set correctly and he also found an excessive amount of grease on the assembly that could have been causing the noise. Long story short, he is installing a new tensioner and a new timing belt, I should have the car back tomorrow. That's another $713 dollars added to the bill... Grr.

-Carl

Any updates on anyones car? the noise is really annoying... Please update after 500 miles. For some strange reason the noise comes back after 300-500 miles, it happened to me.

I just fixed one on a IX, replaced tensioner pulley (part of front engine mount) real pain in the butt must remove p/s pump and bracket,crank sensor blade and timing belt. timing belt is walking towards back of engine and rubbing/cutting into the crank sensor blade. you will find noticable wear on blade from belt rubbing excessively and belt will be worn to where you see nylon cords showing in certain areas