*MODS please move to Third Gen section*

Hey all,

Basically I went and got my water pump replaced on Tuesday, when I went to pick up the car the mechanic mentioned that he also added 3 liters of engine oil. This is weird because I check the oil levels every second weekend or so and I know that it was in the middle of the marks on the dip stick .....

So now when I rev the car to 3200-4000rpm I hear a rattle sound, but once the engine warms up to normal temperature it goes away. It happens in neutral and when it is in gear.

I took it back into the mechanic today and he had a look, he said the noise is coming from the engine. He suggested that my low oil levels could have damaged the engine and that I possibly couldn't hear it because of the noise the water pump was making. ... I thought it was a loose belt or pully ...

Now I swear this noise was not there before, can having low oil damage something in the engine that then goes away when its warmed up?

Any suggestions or ideas?

3L is a lot of oil if you were just a bit low. It's like 1L between the high and low marks, so if it was half way between you should have needed about 0.5L not 3L.
Did you check your oil when you got the car back from the shop? where was it reading on the dipstick?

One of my mates took his car to a mechanic for a service and when they put new oil in they must have measured with the dipstick just resting on the tube, not pushed in :roflwtf: I know that some bikes and other things to measure your oil level you unscrew the dipstick and measure with it sitting on the threads and not screwed in.
Anyway, the car started blowing a lot of smoke so he took it back and they told him he'd probably need new rings :eek2:

The apprentice must have done it...

Drain the oil out, refill with whatever you normally use and see if it makes a difference. What oil did the Mechanic use?

Drain the oil out, refill with whatever you normally use and see if it makes a difference. What oil did the Mechanic use?

I have no clue what they put in. They didn't charge me for it :S

Also, I just checked my oil levels and they are exactly in the middle of the lines.

The sound almost sounds like marbles rattling around, think is could be oil related?

One of the pullys on the timing belt ???? maybe too tight or water got in etc....

Try pin pointing were the noise is on the engine.

I have no clue what they put in. They didn't charge me for it :S

Also, I just checked my oil levels and they are exactly in the middle of the lines.

The sound almost sounds like marbles rattling around, think is could be oil related?

To be honest, unless they used a particularly thin oil i doubt it, it would just be a process of elimination. Could be a myriad of things, eg water pump, timing belt pulleys etc.

so mechanic added 3 litres of oil but dipstick shows oil level exactly where it was before it went 2 him? so he added no oil...

heres a theory..

he stuffed something, he knows he did... told you he added 3litres of oil so that he can say the car was driven on low oil before it came to him.. so when you return with this noise of what he damaged/broke he has something to blame besides himself....

so mechanic added 3 litres of oil but dipstick shows oil level exactly where it was before it went 2 him? so he added no oil...

heres a theory..

he stuffed something, he knows he did... told you he added 3litres of oil so that he can say the car was driven on low oil before it came to him.. so when you return with this noise of what he damaged/broke he has something to blame besides himself....

There is that.

so mechanic added 3 litres of oil but dipstick shows oil level exactly where it was before it went 2 him? so he added no oil...

heres a theory..

he stuffed something, he knows he did... told you he added 3litres of oil so that he can say the car was driven on low oil before it came to him.. so when you return with this noise of what he damaged/broke he has something to blame besides himself....

+1 sounds like something to do with the belts / tensioners. If it was oil related (i.e constantly running on low) it would happen over a period of time and get progressively worse, not suddenly after it has been in for a water pump.

so mechanic added 3 litres of oil but dipstick shows oil level exactly where it was before it went 2 him? so he added no oil...

heres a theory..

he stuffed something, he knows he did... told you he added 3litres of oil so that he can say the car was driven on low oil before it came to him.. so when you return with this noise of what he damaged/broke he has something to blame besides himself....

Well to be fair, my car does have 2 oil leaks (nothing major .... just like a drip or two when I park it in the garage) and well I checked the oil 2 weeks before and I do remember me writing down to buy some more oil which I never did :S

But this is a good theory, maybe I should take it somewhere else .... but I really don't feel like paying another $200 in labor :(

I am planning to have a closer look this weekend with old mate.

the rattle could be the y piece in the exhaust, it seems to be a big problem and my car is sufering from it.

does it also happen under light acceleration when its warm?

the rattle could be the y piece in the exhaust, it seems to be a big problem and my car is sufering from it.

does it also happen under light acceleration when its warm?

I also have this issue, but I don't care about this one .... I mean who uses light acceleration :P

Now that I think of it, I havn't flushed the engine oil in ages (well over a year, maybe longer) .... I might do that on the weekend, how many liters will I need? Any recommendations on what brand/what I should look for?

I also have this issue, but I don't care about this one .... I mean who uses light acceleration :P

Now that I think of it, I havn't flushed the engine oil in ages (well over a year, maybe longer) .... I might do that on the weekend, how many liters will I need? Any recommendations on what brand/what I should look for?

Oh the infamous can of worms of what oil to use :iough: plenty of posts on this one. Basically you get what you pay for.

how many ks do you think you have done this year?? thats a long time to leave it unchanged. my brother had a cefiro and didnt do his oil or filter for over a year (about 30,000kms), just kept topping up. it started making a tapping for 3 seconds on startup and gradually got worse. when we pulled his engine down he had done the big end bearing on #6 cylinder. my point is it only made a noise on startup and would go away once warm. in the end it knocked constantly. when we drained his oil (we did this when it first started tapping) he had alot of sludge. now this may not apply to you as different engine and depends on how many kms you do. but the noise was similar to what you describe, although it is strange it was fine before the mechanic touched it. i would find out what oil he put in and how it could take so much. to use that much it must be a bad leak or burning it, which you would notice. i would demand he check his work free of charge, or get a second mechanic to asses his work. he may have stuffed up and be covering his tracks as gremlin said.

Hi Mate Ive also got a rattling sound after my mechanic changed my water pump. He put the car on the hoist and checked underneath, the sound was comming from the engine. It could be that our timing belt tension is to high. I remember when it was first done, there was some vibration comming from the timing belt when i first started the car while the engine was cold. Now the vibration is gone but this rattle sound started. Get to check the timing belt im pritty sure thats what it is.

Mine rattles now more it could be something in my engine sump since it was opened by mitsubishi in the cars early stages of owning it. Or it could be a stuffed up oil picker.

the rattle could be the y piece in the exhaust, it seems to be a big problem and my car is sufering from it.

does it also happen under light acceleration when its warm?

Mine happens at hot and cold temperatures. Especially when i steer and slightly & accelerate its annoying even with my exhaust it stands out.

Mine happens at hot and cold temperatures. Especially when i steer and slightly & accelerate its annoying even with my exhaust it stands out.

Yeah I took it back and got angry, they pulled it all apart and put it back together, all fixed :P
So I am guessing something was loose/too tight.

dont these motors make a noise if the timing belt is fitted incorrectly.... think i read it in a service bulletin somewhere

There are several known issues

Internally, the belt tension could be too high or most likely too low. The hydrolic tensioner is rattling against the tensioner pully bracket. Have seen this many a time If the mechanic does not have the correct tooling for belt tension you should go elsewhere

Externally, the power steering and accs belts have tensioners as well, if the belts are too tight or the belts are old and hard you will get a real bad noise that almost sounds like a bearing is on its way out

Abzstar, I am happy to have a look at yours for you if you want me to, there are a coule things we can do to eliminate where the noise is coming from