The cause of my squeaks, rattles and bangs
05-11-2008, 12:37 AM
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The cause of my squeaks, rattles and bangs Hi all,
This is not a post that poses a question. It's just a write-up of how I "fixed" my noisy 2000 Trans-Am. Hopefully it'll help someone else with their noises.
I got my T/A about 2 months ago, and while in a decent mechanical condition, it showed clear signs of not having been serviced in a long while. Along with that, it made a lot of noise. Not the good noise coming out of the exhaust, it made a bunch of mechanical noises that shouldn't be there.
First noise problem:
Banging/rubbing from the rear.
The first obvious noise was that when the car was cold, something rattled under the car, and when accelerating heavily, something was clearly rubbing/banging against something else. Rather deafening noise actually, it was that loud.
Turns out the previous owner had did a backyard installation of true-duals. While I am very impressed by them actually managing such a feat with a MIG-welder, the installation was sub-par. The pipes banged against the panhard-rod, and when accelerating (i.e, the back of the car lowers a bit), one of the pipes rubbed against the driveshaft!!
Solution:
Ok, built a new exhaust (not true-duals) which had plenty of clearance all over. No more rattling when the car was cold, and no banging when accelerating.
Problem 2:
Banging from the rear end.
With the first noise gone, I managed to hear the next one. When going over a bump at low speed, there was a clear bang happening from the rear of the car. Wasn't the exhaust, as that was already fixed.
After a lengthy troubleshooting session, I figured out what it was. It was the rear LCAs that had play in them.
Solution:
Swapped rear LCAs to UMIs. Bang was gone.
Problem 3:
Slight squeak from the rear.
When the suspension was working, a slight squeak was present. Easily reproducible by pushing down the rear of the car when parked.
Solution:
Actually, here I did two things at once, so I'm not sure which one solved the squeak. I replaced my PHB with an adjustable UMI (the stock one was bent), and lubed up the bushings for the rear sway-bar.
Squeak gone.
Problem 4:
A ticking sound from the engine.
When I bought the car, the dealer had just "serviced" it, replacing the serpentine belt amongst other things (they forgot the A/C belt though).
I was worried that it might be a bent pushrod, but decided to try the easy fixes first.
Replacing the A/C belt did not solve the ticking as I had hoped, but as the dealer was less that thorough in their service, I made a stab in the dark to solve the problem.
Solution:
Replacing the main serpentine got rid of the ticking. Apparently all serpentine belts are not created equal.
Now my car is quiet, except for the nice exhaust-note, and the occasional tire squealing in pain.
Hopefully this will help someone else diagnose their noises.
This is not a post that poses a question. It's just a write-up of how I "fixed" my noisy 2000 Trans-Am. Hopefully it'll help someone else with their noises.
I got my T/A about 2 months ago, and while in a decent mechanical condition, it showed clear signs of not having been serviced in a long while. Along with that, it made a lot of noise. Not the good noise coming out of the exhaust, it made a bunch of mechanical noises that shouldn't be there.
First noise problem:
Banging/rubbing from the rear.
The first obvious noise was that when the car was cold, something rattled under the car, and when accelerating heavily, something was clearly rubbing/banging against something else. Rather deafening noise actually, it was that loud.
Turns out the previous owner had did a backyard installation of true-duals. While I am very impressed by them actually managing such a feat with a MIG-welder, the installation was sub-par. The pipes banged against the panhard-rod, and when accelerating (i.e, the back of the car lowers a bit), one of the pipes rubbed against the driveshaft!!
Solution:
Ok, built a new exhaust (not true-duals) which had plenty of clearance all over. No more rattling when the car was cold, and no banging when accelerating.
Problem 2:
Banging from the rear end.
With the first noise gone, I managed to hear the next one. When going over a bump at low speed, there was a clear bang happening from the rear of the car. Wasn't the exhaust, as that was already fixed.
After a lengthy troubleshooting session, I figured out what it was. It was the rear LCAs that had play in them.
Solution:
Swapped rear LCAs to UMIs. Bang was gone.
Problem 3:
Slight squeak from the rear.
When the suspension was working, a slight squeak was present. Easily reproducible by pushing down the rear of the car when parked.
Solution:
Actually, here I did two things at once, so I'm not sure which one solved the squeak. I replaced my PHB with an adjustable UMI (the stock one was bent), and lubed up the bushings for the rear sway-bar.
Squeak gone.
Problem 4:
A ticking sound from the engine.
When I bought the car, the dealer had just "serviced" it, replacing the serpentine belt amongst other things (they forgot the A/C belt though).
I was worried that it might be a bent pushrod, but decided to try the easy fixes first.
Replacing the A/C belt did not solve the ticking as I had hoped, but as the dealer was less that thorough in their service, I made a stab in the dark to solve the problem.
Solution:
Replacing the main serpentine got rid of the ticking. Apparently all serpentine belts are not created equal.
Now my car is quiet, except for the nice exhaust-note, and the occasional tire squealing in pain.
Hopefully this will help someone else diagnose their noises.
