So.. here to diagnose yet another bizarre rattling sound. Probably my third sound over the lifetime of the car.

Anyway over the weekend my friend and I were driving back from Ocean City so we were playing on open roads, doing a lot of accelerating on and off. It was after this playing that I started hearing the sound (yeah, it *could* be bad)

That said, the sound only occurs between 70-80mph intermittently (not constantly!), regardless of what gear I'm in. Because of that, I'm going to assume that it has nothing to do w/ the load on the engine or engine speed. Also, I can be in neutral at that speed and the sound will still occur. It sounds almost like something is loose and is thudding against the frame of the car. I thought at first it might be the hood louvre and that it came loose, but it wasn't. I poked around the engine bay a bit, but I coudn't see anything obvious... any ideas? It sounds like it's coming from somewhere behind the glovebox or behind the dash.. somewhere close to the firewall of the engine bay.

 

This is the most Mitsubishi post i have ever read.

Make sure the radiator fan isn't hitting anything.

 

This could be a noise comming from the front struts. Does it happen on all road surfaces? try it on a few differnet roads and see if it is consistant. Also take a look under the car see if anything jumps out at you as being the cause of the sound.

 

Well, I can't exactly drive 70-80mph on dirt anywhere around here, but.. I imagine it would happen on any surface. My gut instinct is that maybe the wind or vibration at that speed is causing something to rattle (and it is load independent, so can't be anything related to the engine). What is rattling though, is as good as anyone's guess.

 

intake rattling.

few things.

1. does it only make that sound when the windows are down? it could be the wind hitting the seat belts.

2. does it only happen when you're off the throttle? it could be the TC/ Transmission

3. Does it only happen on certain gear? it could be your transmission gear.

4. does it only happen over 70mph? did you stick your head out to see if it was your tire?

5. when this noise occurs, do you try to hold the dash or anything that's attached to the dash or near by to see if it's making that noise? due to the car shaking? due to your tires not being balanced?


this is what I use most of the time to see if it's serious or not.


half of the time, it's the plastic piece on the door, or on your b frame plastic rubbing against the door.

it could be your A pillar cover that could be doing it as well.

hope this helps...

 

I know for fact they are not 1, 2, 3, and 5. As for #4, I'm almost positive it's not the tire, because if it was, my car would be doing more than making some annoying rattle sounds at 70mph.

I'll check the intake and the pillars covers - those seem suspect and likely to rattle. Ugh... I hate rattles.

 

I had an epiphany this morning. I think it is the rubber hose of the windshield sprayer rattling against the inside of the hood.

I'm going to tape it down after work and see if that does anything. I'll keep you guys posted.

 

Well, that was it. The hose rattling against the hood. The joys of owning a Mitsubishi...