2TR Motor "Rattle" - Help figure out the noise

Hi Everyone,

I have a 2007 2TR with the r155f trans, I'm currently at 178k miles and am trying to track down a rattle that has become noticeable within the last thousand miles. The noise reminded me of timing chain slap so my first step was to grab an oil pressure gauge and plumb it into where the dumby light sensor goes. At idle I saw around 15 psi and when cruising I was right at 70 psi, when forcing the engine to make the "noise" the needle held steady at 70 psi and didn't bounce around at all. I assumed the chain has plenty of pressure to be tensioned and the lack of pressure fluctuation says I didn't spin a bearing anywhere. Next I pulled the valve cover because the sounds like its coming from the rear driver side area on the top of the motor. All the cam lobes, valve springs, and rockers looked fine with no visible signs of excess wear or galling. Thinking maybe it is in the trans I checked the throw out bearing adjustment and replaced the oil from Redline mt90 to Lucas per a recommendation from a local friend, still no change. At this point I think the next step is to pull the pan and see if the rear bearing on the driver side balance shaft isn't starting to go out. From my understanding the front bearing is the only one on the balance shaft that has an oil port so it could spin a rear bearing without affecting oil pressure. Let me know what you think I should do or if you've heard this before what it ended up being. Attached are videos that show the sound.

During normal driving, the sound only appears slightly between shifts when the motor is unloaded.
https://youtu.be/XMiZBXEWFCs

While reving with the clutch pushed in it can be heard briefly when the motor switches from reving up to reving down.
https://youtu.be/PM65dC8BvmA

The final video is me just giving the motor enough throttle to keep going without accelerating or decelerating. The noise seems to go away with any type of load on the motor.
https://youtu.be/4cBFhuj6XuI

Thanks, Jared

 

Also is the thread crooked for anyone else?

 

Do you have a borescope? I would inspect the cylinder walls in cylinder #4. My truck had a similar noise but it was all the time and really loud. It was from pistol slap which ended up scoring the crap out of the piston skirt and cylinder walls. Not saying that is the case in your situation as mine was from major abuse (I bought it like that). I also wonder if your balance shafts may be having trouble with the bearings. It’s hard to say really. If you can get someone to reproduce the noise see if you can use a long screw driver to determine where the noise is coming from.


Edit: yes your own posts will be slanted, the mods are having their fun for april 1st.

 

Using a long screw driver was how I narrowed down on the rear driver side area, I'm thinking balance shaft because the noise isn't on the rear passenger side. Ill see if I can did up a borescope, thanks!

 

Lce makes a delete kit for the balance shafts. There are two, but if it goes out may as well just delete it. Fingers crossed that it's not cyl #4 having problems, that would not be fun. If you truck hasn't been abused like mine was, you will probably be fine. I have heard it's common for the balance shafts to have issues after a good amount of miles.

 

I noticed you always get the noise at 3000 rpm. Just wanted to relay a little experience I had with my exhaust system, for what's it is worth. I replaced the exhaust system with a Bosal I got off Amazon. Fit and price were both excellent, seems like a very solid, albeit not stainless, exhaust system. However, the system resonates between 2000 and 2100 RPM in every gear. Your sound reminds me a lot of that, although the sounds is different from what I get so my mind went to a broken exhaust seam somewhere. Agree your sound sure seems like a mechanical rattle, but thought I'd toss this thought into the mix.
I see this is an older post, so maybe you've got this all resolved by now. Curious as to the resolution if you've got one.

 

that is what I was thinking ^^^ heat shield rattle
have a poke under and see if anything is loose or not with the exhaust

 

Did you manage to figure this one out? I have the exact same rattle on mine when not accelerating or decelerating

 

I wonder if some sheet metal is loose, and is resonant at vibrations that 3k rpm produces?!

 

My 5MT has a shudder type noise, not sure if it's a heat shield that resonates or what, but it's around 1700-1900 rpm. But only when applying more throttle. If I keep it steady and do light acceleration, it's hardly noticeable. Past 1,900 rpm it's gone.

 

Mine is making the same noise around the 1500 rpm range. Did anyone ever figure it out? It won’t do it unless the engine is kinda lugging.

 

I haven't yet - someone mentioned a while back it could be a worn out gasket below the air box that contains the air filter. At some point I should investigate that. Kind of hard to pinpoint where the sound is coming from, but it does sound like it could be from that area.

 

how would it be crooked?