I have a rattle too :(

[Apoc]

Hey peoples sorry for the about the length but just wanna give any info i can think of...

I have a rattle comming from the bottom end of my S1 VN, after reading around it looks like it could be any of the following, either have a busted harmonic balancer, busted timing chain tensioner, or stretched timing chain. I really want to get rid of this rattle. It makes my car seem dodgy all i wanna hear of my engine is ticking from injectors and a nice burgling noise from the exhaust.

The sound matches other peoples description of marbles rattling around, however this seems to be associated with the timing chain, which also is supposed to increase with rpm. In my car however this rattle only seems occurs at idle, i can be coasting (no load, no pedal) at 60km/h a point where my exhaust make practically no noise and cant here anything of this noise. As i accelerate i cant hear the noise at all but exhaust may be drowning it out.

My harmonic balancer looks to be in pretty good nick no chunks missing or cracks that i can see but looks like it may not be running properly centered.

Car isnt sluggish at all...

Can anyone steer me towards one or the other with this description? What sort of damage am i looking at to get them both done at the same time?, as this is probably what ill end up doing if i cant just replaced one or the other.

Cheers,
Apoc

[88GreenVN]

From memory the timming chain make a metallicy sound and the balancer more of a clicky sound. I've replaced both over time. But was a few birthday cakes ago.
Try a long screw driver agains the timming cover - be careful of the moving parts and have a listen. Dont know if this will help.

[Apoc]

"From memory the timming chain make a metallicy sound and the balancer more of a clicky sound." - 88GreenVN

cheers for the input 88GreenVN,

i could almost say it was a more metallic sound, like a chain running along a metal plate (but muffled like the noise is behind a wooden door), but i dont want to jump to conclusions. The noise is not 100% constant either, it will be a bit like this,

rattle - rattle ---- rattle - rattle ---- rattle - rattle .... need a recording really

If my car is idling smoothly for most the part would either sound be more constant?

For example the harmonic balancer is like a big circle spinning around from its center, to me anyway so i might hazard a guess that it did its rattle once per revolution at a certain point producing a 100% contant noise?

Whereas a timing chain has slack in it supposedly sorted out by the tensioner and if the tensioner is gone or is just to much slack to tension could be slapping around intermitently?

Has anyone replaced either of these and ceased the rattle in their car and can say whether or not the culprit made a constant or intermittent sound.

I hope that all reads alright to other people

Apoc out.

[88GreenVN]

When replacing the timming chain and tensioner the rattle when away no probs. Thinking about it more the rattle sound happened more so at light throttle.

With the balancer the rattle happened most of the time once it went wonky.