[SOLVED] Weird noise when going up hills

ExtremeCaliber

ExtremeCaliber

Greenie N00B Member
Heya, so it's a bit of a weird one, this noise only occurs when going up hills. When there's a straight there's hardly anything. I've recorded a video for better explanation:
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Before said noise used to go away. Things related to this that I've done would be:

  • Koni Orange struts
  • CV axle change
  • wheel bearing's on all 4's
  • brakes and rotors
  • Rims are the 18inch Rx8 ones
(this was done waaay before the noise started)

Besides that I'm not sure. There is no loss on engine power, it doesn't bog down when you hear the noise. No play in steering, no vibrations other than the noise you hear. At the end of the video I talked about joints but I'm not too sure about it anymore. The noise comes mostly on the passenger side. Just wondering if someone may have come across this before, as noises are kinda hard to describe and search for in text form. I've inspected the suspension and everything seems to be fine, the wheel bearing and tire rod test of wiggling the wheel while it's on the car results on no play either.
 
will listen to video in a few however is there a specific speed and or rpm range on a hill that it occurs?
any leaks on the trans? how's your oil level as well as other fluids mainly coolant / power steering
 
Awafrican said:
will listen to video in a few however is there a specific speed and or rpm range on a hill that it occurs?
any leaks on the trans? how's your oil level as well as other fluids mainly coolant / power steering
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Just went down to check it out, coolant is ok, engine oil is in the middle and ok, power steering fluid appears to be above max which is not ideal, no trans leaks, there is a known leak coming from one of the turbo lines but this was known before the noise was being made. Although I haven't inspected the turbo for shaft play, I do know it's due for a turbo cartidge which I'm saving for. Though I don't believe it to be the cause of the noise.

Forgot to also add in the original post, I did also replace the sway bar bushings and links, those also were done way before this noise started.
 

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man I wouldn't be going up hills at 2k rpm on 3rd+ these cars do not like load below 3k, certainly not below 2.5k, curious to see what 2nd on same hill sounds like.
to me that sounds like it not wanting to go and needs more revs, admittedly I'm not great with noises. hopefully some others chime in.

edit: I should add I appreciate it's a new noise still curious
 
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Awafrican said:
man I wouldn't be going up hills at 2k rpm on 3rd+ these cars do not like load below 3k, certainly not below 2.5k, curious to see what 2nd on same hill sounds like.
to me that sounds like it not wanting to go and needs more revs, admittedly I'm not great with noises. hopefully some others chime in.

edit: I should add I appreciate it's a new noise still curious
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Yeah, though it doesn't feel sluggish and it definitely isn't a crazy amount of load on the car when it is going up a hill. Since the momentum of going down first helps a ton going back up, it doesn't slow down while I'm in 2k nor am I giving it alot of throttle either, maybe like 20%-30%, It's just weird because I don't see anything that sticks out at me while I'm under the car. It's certainly drive-train related, not engine noise, I doubt it's trans since it's pulling fine without bogging while those noises are being made.

Is it that center shaft? There is play when being pushed towards the wheel and back to the trans, and you hear that metal clang. But from what I hear (from a single person lol) that's normal and it hasn't made any clanging while moving. I've seen the post on replacing the bearing in it but would that even alleviate what's going on here? Doing that task would mean the car would be down for possibly close to a week and I'd rather not put money into the chance. Just hoping someone else might have experienced it before.

(edit: I forgot to mention previously that after driving for say a mile, it straight up goes away, which is even more weird. Though I will have to re-test that as I haven't drove for a mile in 2 days to really be certain)
 
Update: noise indeed does not go away after driving for a while, it certainly used to though. New detail though on this morning's drive, when there was a sudden downward force on the car (there's a dip in the road that goes back up hill rapidly) that humming noise gets loud from the force. I'm leaning towards definitely something in the CV or center shaft. Any idea what I should be looking for when it comes to inspecting the center shaft?
 
Another update: I drove again today and it does go away after being on the highway. Seems whatever wants to be centered gets to be once it's rolling for a while. Then hitting hills don't cause the noise unless you go over dips in the road that rapidly go back up in elevation like I mentioned before. I'm gonna be doing an oil change on wednsday so when that comes around I'll be inspecting below again.
 
Awafrican said:
could also be a motor mount, OEM pmm and RMM are down to fail.

as for inspecting CV shaft @Easter Bunny may be able to shed some light past me just googling it...
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Heya, I had some things come up recently and haven't had the chance to take a look under the car while its on. But have you seen bad trans mounts or motor mounts creating these symptoms? Just wondering because I'm honestly clueless. It's only when there's acceleration and never on idle.
 
Purchased a rear engine mount since I believe that will be the most drastic change. The car had it's balance shaft deleted and since I daily this car, I did not want to go the poly urethane route. Read a forum post about using a focus rear motor mount thats solid rubber (CM5Z-6068-A) and bought the bolt and part that will come in soon. My speed3 has 230k miles and the person who rebuild the engine, I don't believe he did the mounts... but we'll see.

I'm out of state right now for a wedding and since I was time constrained wanting to just do my oil change, I didn't seriously give it a thought until now while I'm at said wedding lol. I feel the symptoms make sense with how it's mostly on hills since it would start putting pressure on the mount due to the load from the wheels increasing. I just wish I actually gave it some thought while I did the oil change and tested the theory somehow while the car is in the air and running it.

Only around 38 bucks total for the mount and bolt. Mount I used was the Westar EM4110, saw it was on rock auto and found it on amazon to be shipped cheaper and faster. If it works, it works, if it don't, then I've got a new rear engine mount instead.
 
UPDATE: CAR IS FIXED!! It would have been fixed a week ago if only usps would delivery my package in-time. It was the rear motor mount, and holy moly I never felt the car feel that smooth. This is my first manual car so I did not know the difference.

I switched to the e-focus motor mount but got an aftermarket part: Westar EM4110 which is referencing the part number CM5Z-6068-A. Then the matching bolt W500545S900, although it never got delivered thanks to usps and made me waste a week. Instead I purchased the bolt from amazon so I can overnight it to me. The bolt dimensions are on some ford websites but its 12mm-1.75 x 70. Although the bolt I purchased was 80mm long, it didn't matter in the end. Here is the link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L1ITVSW?

Westar EM4110

At the same time I installed the turbosmart OPR V2 for the car even though its a stock k04. I feel it'll help it last just that little bit longer since I'm saving up for the turbo rebuild hopefully by the end of the year or next year. (Turbo is at 230k miles, I'm getting to it)
 
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glad you got it sorted. not a mount we see recommended around here but hey noise is gone.

why on earth are you installing random parts to starve the turbo of oil? do you have oil in the intake tract? probably just a failed PCV valve initially
misnomer that a oil restrictor bolt will save the turbo / seals is malarkey, it's a bandaid solution at best. it's caused from poor crank case pressure, usually from failed PCV valve. and the crank case vent location on the TIP; gen2 changed the location so if stock gen1 putting a stock gen2 tip in or just going to an after market tip will help.
 
Awafrican said:
glad you got it sorted. not a mount we see recommended around here but hey noise is gone.

why on earth are you installing random parts to starve the turbo of oil? do you have oil in the intake tract? probably just a failed PCV valve initially
misnomer that a oil restrictor bolt will save the turbo / seals is malarkey, it's a bandaid solution at best. it's caused from poor crank case pressure, usually from failed PCV valve. and the crank case vent location on the TIP; gen2 changed the location so if stock gen1 putting a stock gen2 tip in or just going to an after market tip will help.
Click to expand...

I've had the oil pressure regulator recommended to me, and I felt like it was a good idea since my speed3 takes it's oil directly from the spin on oil filter conversion and I felt like that amount of oil pressure would be a bit too much. The OPR is limiting it right now to 45-50 psi
 
ExtremeCaliber said:
I've had the oil pressure regulator recommended to me, and I felt like it was a good idea since my speed3 takes it's oil directly from the spin on oil filter conversion and I felt like that amount of oil pressure would be a bit too much. The OPR is limiting it right now to 45-50 psi
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Why is your turbo oil feed coming from your oil filter conversion and not the OEM location on the back of the block under the Alt?

The OEM turbo oil feed location doesn't have any pressure regulation either so I'm not sure why an OPR was recommended?

As Awa already mentioned it's not a solution for a problem it's merely a bandaid to mask a problem.
 
Mtnbker3531 said:
Why is your turbo oil feed coming from your oil filter conversion and not the OEM location on the back of the block under the Alt?

The OEM turbo oil feed location doesn't have any pressure regulation either so I'm not sure why an OPR was recommended?

As Awa already mentioned it's not a solution for a problem it's merely a bandaid to mask a problem.
Click to expand...
Sorry forgot to mention it in my reply, the speed3 is a 2.5 swap so the block doesn't have location for it.
 
Welp seems to be back now. I've been driving it around a few days and it's as the same as it was before. Thinking it's center shaft but I removed the axle but don't see any thing inherently wrong with it except for the play seen here:
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Think it's tranny related? May bleed some trans fluid to see if something is up there but I doubt it
 
Waiting for my new part to arrive but we definitely were on the right track on motor mounts... this would most certainly be the cause of the noise

This is the passenger motor mount:
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Thanks to this video I happened to stumble upon too:
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