ive been getting a weird rattling noise coming from the engine area...i had this problem before and it was much louder took it in to get it fixed..said it was the cam shaft tensioner...4000 miles later, its starting to do it again but very faintly.

 

How many miles are on your engine and what grade and type of motor oil do you run in your car? Oh, and does the car make the noise all the time or only on cold start-up? The wrong grade/quality of motor oil can cause valvetrain noise as well as a cheap oil filters or excess sludge buildup. FYI the cam tensioners have filtering screens on them which can get blocked or clogged by excessive sludge. The sludge build up usually is caused by poor quality oils and not changing the oil in regular intervals. If there is an issue with oil starvation because of exces sludge, this will hinder the oils ability to lubricate vital engine parts such as cam, crank and rod bearings.

P.S. How do you know the valvetrain noise is being caused by the cam tensioner and not by some other part?

 

Mobile1 5w40 full synthetic..

when it start the car drive it for a bit..i can hear it only when im stopped..its an automatic so i can really hear when its in drive and reverse not so much in park..I have a video that will be posted in about 10 minutes.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGTPc...el_video_title

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHX5cHPBWkI

heres a link so you can hear it.. 2 different videos/


there are 175k miles on the car...im assuming its the cam shaft tensioner..because it made the same noise before..they replaced it and it had stopped..now it seems like its making the same noise expect its just not as loud.

 

Take a long srewdriver and put the metal end against the cam cover right above the tensioner and put the handle to your ear. You will be able to hear the noise much better if, indeed, that is the problem. If not, start moving the screwdriver around until you find the noise.

Good luck,

Bob

 

You have two distinct noises:
- a constant one, that's the motor itself's noise; as TTC5 eluded to, I think you have a serious lifters problem - that's not what a normal engine sounds like.
- an intermittent one, that comes and goes, which may or may not be the tensioner, but definitely sounds like metal rubbing against metal. It is very distinct in the second video toward the end - when you say to someone else "stop it!" and then you lower the camcorder toward the ignition coils area.

 

okay so heres what i was told... they took a look at it, and said it was a cooling fan making the noise..I guess the fan locked up on them, and then unlocked and was making that noise...my A/C hadnt been working nither..when on the highest setting..it would make a loud noise and just blow mildly cold air..

In January they had replaced an A/C line and and the fan right against the engine because the fan had stopped working, I hadn't used my A/C all the way from January when they replaced it, to now in the past 2 weeks or so..Now I'm being charged for labor costs and the replacement of this fan...does anyone think that they should have caught this problem before when they had the engine pulled and did the cam shaft tensioners in January along with the A/C line.. I've put about 6000 miles on the car since..and there is a 12 month 12k mile warranty on this...I feel like I shouldn't be charged this labor, due to the fact I took the car in January for this problem to be solved.