Gday

I posted this question on tech tourque but thought it might be better here.

I just bought a TP magna 1990. When I get to 1800 - 2200 revs there is a clicking sound in the dash. It sounds like one of those cheap plastic toy machine guns. It is a bit on and off, sometimes it starts when I start the car and sometimes when Iv been driving for a bit. It sounds like its coming from above the brake or clutch pedal, not from the speedo area. Its not anything to do with the vents because it happens regardless of the fan being on or off, and it is not a panel. I havent got a clue what it could be. It must be something vibrating with the revs...but I dont want to get my dash off searching without a clue.

Has this happened to anyone else or any ideas on what it could be?

Thanx

i had a similar sound once, just had to adjust the heater settings (like how hot it was), it must have got stuck half way between 2 of the settings. gf freaked me out when she said the car was making a weird ticking noise, thought the car was dying!

Yeah, I have the same sound too. It's very faint though and i just ignore it. I hope it's nothing serious... my car has enough problems as it is...

yep the same things happened to me to i was like WTF the 1st time it took me 6months to work out it was the heat setting it seems to happen when i go from hot to cold it will tap for a few seconds or if the adjuster is around the middel it will only tap between 2000-2500rpm its weird cos it doesnt happed after 2500rpm, it used to **** me cos ill be in traffic go to take off then TAP TAP TAP so i just kept it at high revs cos didnt happen then. :rant:

I played with the heater a bit and it doesnt seem to be happening anymore. But I'll see how it goes tomorrow. It was really starting to get annoying...but turning the sub on did help. :P

Thanx for the help, does anyone know why this sound happens at only a specific rev range, jjust harmonic vibration or linked to the engine?

id say it has to do with vibrations, i mean when the engines under load it shakes more, and the higher the revs, the smoother the engine.

I played with the heater a bit and it doesnt seem to be happening anymore. But I'll see how it goes tomorrow. It was really starting to get annoying...but turning the sub on did help. :P

Thanx for the help, does anyone know why this sound happens at only a specific rev range, jjust harmonic vibration or linked to the engine?
Yer i think its weird too why it only happens at certain revs, and it doesnt really die off it just stops straight after 2500, but i can also feal it a little bit in my cluch, thats why it was harder to work out wot it was

i've got a 1990 TP with exactly the same problem, exactly the sme rev range, it's been happening on and off for around a year and i havn't had a problem with the car at all.

I've been looking around on the msn magna group and was told it may be flex pipe related... when i got the sport exhaust on it the flex pipe was found to be OK, ruling that out as the issue.

I'm also told that it's something to do with the heater system in the car... heres the twist;
after a lot of trial and error to work out when this happens;
it only happens when the car is up to proper operating temp (needle in middle of gauge)
only between 1750 - 2000 RPM
only under lighter accelaration
usually happens more often in summer

I don't think it will be detrimental to your car or any other magna for that matter, just one of those niggling little things that you get with older cars i guess...

Cool my old thread has been revived! Mine stops the stupid noise if you move the heater from hard on cold to the next increment along. Just out of curiosity is anyone else's different from this?

I've got the 2000rpm vibrations too. It doesn't appear harmful, so I'm just going to ignore it.

Had the same vibrations at the same RPM as mentioned. I also discovered having the heater setting on one click to right (2nd click from full cold) fixed the problem. I'm betting it's got something to do with the heater and or the speed-o cable.

I've had some weird clicking experiences, i was getting lunch at work one day and went to turn the car on but it didnt start... just a clicking sound came from the dash and i was like wtf, so i tried again and again and the same thing, so i turnedthe car off completely and took the key out and then tried again and it fired up no worries... it happened the other night as well.. its a bit suss.

On the TP heater controls there is a main heater control switch which is vacuum powered and it has an actuator up under the dash to the left of the steering column.
Generally a sign of vacuum leaks.
Suggest you check your vacuum line and also the little check valve located under the bonnet near the firewall.

forgive me for asking... im not able to get to my car for a few weeks (im in melb, its at the parents place in country vic)

where is this check valve near the firewall, and what does it look like? does the vacuum line emerge somewhere near the firewall too?

i've got a mcgregorys workshop manual for the car, so ifits mentioned in there i might have a look at it when im back home

yeah well i'd guess that the valve would be about where the steering coloum would be but in the engine bay, they wouldnt put the valve all the way over on the passengers side for the sake of fun now would they?

If you have a look under the bonnet just in front of the windscreen wiper gearbox you will see a 6 mil black airline. In that line about 50 mil to the left of the windsceen wiper gearbox you will see a small white plastic non return valve about 25 mil. long. Also there is a 3 way connector one side of which leads down to the vacuum reservoir in the front of the car.

The non return valve cost me about $30.00 a few years ago.

The other cause could be that you have lost a bit of your pressure elsewhere.
Those of you who can remember the original vacuum drive Holden and Falcon wipers that used to speed up and slow down in the reverse of what you wanted them to do.

There is full detail of the vacuum lines in the Workshop Manual but I don't think it is even shown in the Gregory's book.

cheers