My Mk3 sounds like a diesel...

[vanish]

Yes peeps,
Hope some one recognises this and can help me out. When driving the car and the revs are low it's started making a tinny chugging noise which sounds like the noise a diesel engine makes. Not sure if this is what they call "pinking under load" but it sounds rubbish and it's doin me in.

Any clues and how to rectify the problem would be much appreciated!

[Len]

Not a lot to go on.

If its only under load try changing gear and raising the revs. Try different gears/revs and try to establish exactly when and under what conditions it occurs.

Could be tappets, could be fuel mixture related.

[vanish]

Not a lot to go on.

ha ha Yeah, guess I was a bit vague Len, that's what comes from trying to write at the end of a 10hr nightshift!

To be a bit more specific: It happens in 2nd or 3rd gear, say if you slow dow to take a sharp corner or go over a speed bump then as you pull away it starts rattling until you get up to speed again. Or if you're going up a hill it constantly does it until you can go fast enough to get into 4th. Changing down a gear will get rid of the noise but then you tend to find you're over-revving and look like a prick!? It sounds like the "rattle" a diesel engine makes, a sort of rapid metallic clanging. Sorry this still isn't very clear but it's the best I can do I'm afraid, my technical knowledge on cars is roughly equivilant to your mum's knowledge of kung-Fu

[mowgli]

Have you gone through some deepish water recently??  If so, you might have dislodged a heatshield that sits above the exhaust between it and the body of the car.  To be honest, I'm not even sure if the Mk3 has one, but the same happened to the wifes Ibiza GTi.  Just a thought, dead easy to fix, I did ours with tie wraps

[Len]

So does that mean u dont feel any loss of power?
If it doesnt feel hesitant, then its prob not an engine problem and could well be the heatshield.


Oh and i know what ya mean, have done 12hr night shifts in the past! Not good for your general well being!

[vanish]

Cheers for the help guys, much appreciated. I haven't been through any deep water but as there isn't any loss of power associated with the noise I'll try and get under her (the car not the missus) at the weekend and have a butchers at the heat shield.

Take it easy, 

[Overseer]

my heat shield rattles.. have hit it with a hammer that seemed to stop it for a bit.. passengers in the rear can hearfe/feel "something" under the floor..  haha

[mowgli]

When I went underneath, there were four spigots sticking out from the underside.? Each of these spigots looked like it had a thread but these were just raised areas, usually (unless they have rusted away) there are circular spring steel fasteners that simply push onto these spigots to keep the heatshield in place.? I use tiewraps instead of the original stuff, I might even get back underneath and give a them a good dawbing in underseal or hammeriteing.

I would probably do the same with the car...

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