172 cup - Noise when idling

[TVO]

I took my 172 Cup into Renault on Wednesday due to a ticking noise on idle, more noticeable when inside the car and coming from the drivers side of the engine bay. Car is still under warranty and only done 17,000 miles.

It was diagnosed by Renault as a likely timing belt problem.

I picked the car up this afternoon and was told they'd replaced the timing belt and everything was fine.

I drove off the forecourt and halfway home stopped off at a petrol station only to find the noise was still there!!

Any got any ideas what the noise is?

Going to get it booked back into the Renault garage tomorrow!

 

[RobertCL]

I mentioned a similar thing at my 36k service. When it's warm and you've been sat idling for a minute or so it starts ticking. Rev the engine a few times and it will go away. Leave it idling and it comes back. Sounds much worse from inside the car, you can hardly hear it with your head in the bonet for the rest of the engine noise. They said they couldn't hear anything except "normal tappet noise" so nothing has been done.


I'd be interested to know how you get on....

 

[MOZZalba]

IMO it's the injectors, Mine does the same thing.

 

[RobertCL]

Would that explain why the noise is there sometimes and not others? and why it gets faster when you rev the engine?

 

[MOZZalba]

yep, mine does that exact thing. Granted it's a little difficult to diagnose exactly on a forum (lol) but sounds like it to me.

 

[RobertCL]

Hmm. Ah well, maybe it is normal then. Just sounds so "tickety" from in the car and I'm sure it hasn't always been there, but then again maybe it has!

 

[Justin182]

Mine does this too but gave up trying to find a cure. Had a machanic in the car the other day about a steering noise and that tappety noise started. He mentioned it sound like excessive oil round the tappets, which in my non-machanical mind, sounds utter balls lol....

Someone did mention on here that it was a pressure release valve and it exits round the drivers front arch. Dont think it really a problem. Not sure though.

 

[Fred@BTM]

its not timing belt related mate, 100% promise

i'm still convinced its aux belt/alternator related

 

[TVO]

It annoys me when dealers say 'it's normal'!! Of course it's not normal it shouldn't be making that noise so something is wrong!!! (sorry rant over).

Fred - I mentioned your comments about the alternator when I dropped it off. Think he ignored me at the time!!

We'll see how I get on tomorrow

 

[Fred@BTM]

where did you take it???

did they replace the aux belt at the same time???

 

[TVO]

Stourbridge, Walker Renault

No they just replaced the timing belt.

They did sort out the leaky rocker cover

 

[Justin182]

Will be interesting to here what they do. I know its not really a problem but it really pi*ses me off when your sat at lights in a 2 litre 172/182 + bhp car and it sound like a 1989 1.3 ford escort......

....tap tap tap tap.... Arghh !!!......vroooooommm!!!!. Gone. (for 45 secs, and ive counted lol)

 

[Fred@BTM]

monkeys, tell them you want the rocker cover bolts resealing as they're leaking

tell them they SHOULD replace the aux belt when doing the cambelt

tell them also that you think the noise is coming from a noisy bearing inside the alternator, i don't think its the water pump as that had no movement

 

[TVO]

Cheers mate, will let you know how I get on

 

[LegoHead]

I am interested too, as I have noticed a clicking from behind drivers headlight, at about a 1 every second. tic tic tic .........annoying.

 

[RobertCL]

i'm still convinced its aux belt/alternator related

I had the AUX belt replaced when I had mine serviced and the noise is still there. I was hoping it would just cure it but no such luck. I'd hope they would have noticed if there was something obviously wrong with the bearings on the alternator or other bits around there when they did the belt...

They spotted a few other things that I didn't know about that needed doing during the service so I'm assuming they at least had their eyes open!

 

[TVO]

Took it back in today, definitely not the alternator as once removed the noise was still there.

Auxilary belt was changed last time it turns out, just not recorded on the sheet I had from them.

They are having it in for 2-3 days next week. The mystery continues!

 

[hkka]

Noise from the CATALYTIC??

Or, does anyone know if you DID NOT secure the rear mid seat belt magnet well, your Clio will keep having tap...tap...tap.. all the time!!!

I remember I asked Renault to solve the problem, but they did not. Finally, I solved myself.

PLUS!!! Please clean your throttle body (even top inlet manifold) once a while as you are sucking all the oil from the breather pipe.

I recently do have another noise problem which is just notice when slow. It sounds like gee...gee...gee.. I am going to resmooth the rear brake disc plus having new rear brake pads. Will see....

 

[TVO]

Noise from the CATALYTIC??

Or, does anyone know if you DID NOT secure the rear mid seat belt magnet well, your Clio will keep having tap...tap...tap.. all the time!!!

PLUS!!! Please clean your throttle body (even top inlet manifold) once a while as you are sucking all the oil from the breather pipe.

Sorry mate but I don't quite understand what you're trying to say

Are you saying the noise is from the catalytic converter?? But that would be heard from a different area of the car?

 

[Gaz_]

I mentioned a similar thing at my 36k service. When it's warm and you've been sat idling for a minute or so it starts ticking. Rev the engine a few times and it will go away. Leave it idling and it comes back. Sounds much worse from inside the car, you can hardly hear it with your head in the bonet for the rest of the engine noise. They said they couldn't hear anything except "normal tappet noise" so nothing has been done.


I'd be interested to know how you get on....

how freaky was this, never had this noise..... untill today , exactly that, tap tap tap, rev it, then it clears for abit, then comes back..... sounds awful inside the car, reminded me of my punto gt, they used to have a charcoal cannister in the wing for fuel vapers, sounded the same. its so strange i've not heard it, or hasn't done it before..... is not cold weather related is it?

i've had me cambelt done a month ago, with all tentioners + belts

 

[HBB]

Mine DID NOT do it when I got it a few months back. Started a few weeks ago. Hope we manage to find out what it is even if its never stopped!

 

[The Fatty]

my 1.2 dosnt mk a ticking noise, but a beltish noise. i to thought alt, but i took it off and it wasnt. i replaced water pump, and cam belt and tensioner....still there!!

i have noticed tho, that it only happens when the engine gets warm!! like when the thermostap opens to let the water flow around the system, so im thinging its just a noise from water modulation?

 

[TVO]

Looks like a few more have joined the tap tap tap club!!

Renault have got my car for 3 days next week so we'll see how they get on.

 

[16v_jon]

sounds like the oil pump to me

 

[Fred@BTM]

not on a 20K mile car mate!

 

[16v_jon]

nar not going just noisy due to it being chain driven ? what you think?

 

[Fred@BTM]

na, i've worked on TVO's car, its defo not that, its coming from near the aux belt area

 

[NealP]

Tap tap tap tap...yep me too! I've only had the car a week and was looking all over it at the weekend. Same scenario as others though give a rev and it disappears for a short while. Thought it might be to do with a faulty hydraulic follower as they are dependant on oil pressure and when you give it a quick rev up oil pressure increases and sound goes away for a short time.
I thinks its time to get the long wooden handled screwdriver to ones ear and start having a good listen around the engine bay.

 

[TVO]

Neal, let me know if you know if you find anything. Mine has just gone back to Renault today so I'll let you know if there's any outcome.

 

[Norris_309]

Well i was sat with my clio idling just a minute ago (waiting for the misses to move her car off the drive)
And what did i hear... a tap tap tap tap.. press the accelerator and hold it a bit higher than tickover & it taps really fast.
Can hear it alot more from inside the car...
Never heard it before on mine, but then this is probably the first time i've sat in it idling without the stereo on.

I knew i'd read about on here, anyone found out anything about it?
Mines a 53 plate cup, with 12k on the clock!

 

[RobertCL]

Yeah, I'd still like to know what anyone has found out too...

 

[Gaz_]

weird, mine hasn't done it since i've posted enough, :S
(touching s**t loads of wood, not walking under ladders etc)

 

[Guy]

my 182 has exactly same fault.. started before chrimbo at about 18k ish
only happens when warm

its a LOT more notecable in the drivers cab, and it speeds up if you gently put the pedal down till about 2k where it goes quiet again..
you rev it hard it stops, then you get back down to idle speed and it slowly creeps back up again.

seen some others report it too..


doesnt the VVT kick in on idle?? reckon its anything to do with that?


my dealer said its normal.. well if it was normall.. why didnt it do it before when i got the car.. i wouldnt have bought it if it sounded like a bag of spanners.

 

[TVO]

Ok folks, I've now got the car back. When I went to pick it up the mechanic actually showed me the problem, where the noise was coming from and how it has now been reduced.

Below and slightly back from the front headlight is the Charcoal Canister, this is made from plastic and on the 172's the housing is metal which joins to the body of the car. As part of the Charcoal canister their is a solenoid (bit like a fuel injection solenoid) which opens and closes to release gases. As this opens and closes it sends the vibrations through the canister, through the metal bracket and onto the body of the car, hence the tick, tick, tick noise. This solenoid releases gases at a certain rate and for a certain time (would explain why it can be heard for a time and then stops).

The mechanic actually disconnected the cannister whilst I could hear the ticking noise and it stopped.

The 182's have a plastic housing which will reduce the noise as the plastic being attached to the body of the car does not transfer the sound as well as the metal - he replaced mine for a plastic one (from the 182's) and it reduced the noise slightly. He then sandwiched a piece of rubber between the body of the car and the canister to further reduce the transfer of the noise, and covered some of the canister in rubber.

The noise is now almost invisible, if I listen very hard I can sometimes hear it but most of the time it is gone.

The solenoid makes this noise all the time (releasing gases at certain times) but cannot be heard when driving. I have been assured it is not faulty, it is not doing any damage, it is simply how it has been made.

They had my car for a number of days, they replaced the timing belt, aux belt and checked all bearings in the process. They even took the time to show me the problem whilst I was there and how it had been diagnosed.

It may not be considered a total cure but I'm just glad I now know where it was coming from and that no damage is being done

 

[LegoHead]

Another rattle that has been solved.

 

[Neil G]

Glad to hear it was nothing serious

 

[ilaffe1]

had canistors replaced on my 1.2 & 172 didnt make any difference just lived with it might try the rubber sandwich 2 dull it down

 

[Norris_309]

nice one. thanks for the info.. glad there is a reason (non damaging) for it.. mine was fine this morning when cold.. but when sat in traffic on the way to work it started up.. then went again...

I'll take mine to renault & ask them to fit the rubber sandwich fix to my charcoal canister.. Hmmm think that might be asking for trouble lol

 

[Steve]

Mine sounds like a bingo machine when warm, tick, tick, clack, clack........only on tick over & slightly above 1k - 2.5k

I had FRED, YOZZA & MATT look at it..........................

Needs sorting as it's getting louder, going into Renault end of next week......any ideas????

 

[Pete_CUP]

Thanks TVO, great post, certainly solved a problem for me.