need help diagnosing a ratte

[notacarlo]

Both. It will be louder the colder it is. As the cable chafes and things get a little warmer it will get quieter.

Removing the cluster is not hard to do, it's a lesson in determination. The printed circuit board on the back of that panel needs to be put back in pretty much exactly the same place as the turn signal indicators will stay lit, or the bright indicator may stay on for no apparent reason. It is because that printed circuit board shifted or the cluster was re-affixed a little crooked.

If you look on the firewall from the engine compartment you should see a coupling for the speedo cable. This is where the short meets the long. It may be possible to "inject" dry lube into the short end right there. I had straight exhaust system on my GN so the little noises were dround out. Plus it was always the winter months that I had the noise and I drove it less than 1000 miles.

Hope this helps as I am out $10 and a set of used timing belts.

 

[Rich Gio]

Ok. I'll see your raise of $10 and up it more with a used 640 belt that its a noisy speedo cable.

X2... that was my rattle...BUT ...I could hear it at the speedo and it was more "metallic" sounding.

 

[87NAT]

Flapping now? A stork caught in the grill???

Seriously, could it be the plastic piece that sits horizonatally behind the grill that is held in place by a spring in front of the radiator? Dont know the name for it. Air dam?

I am only betting $1.50 on this one..:redface:

 

[notacarlo]

Flapping now? A stork caught in the grill???

Seriously, could it be the plastic piece that sits horizonatally behind the grill that is held in place by a spring in front of the radiator? Dont know the name for it. Air dam?

I am only betting $1.50 on this one..:redface:

Sorry, the thread minimum is now at $10, two timing belts, and a VW accessory belt. :biggrin:

 

[HighMileage]

"flapping"!!

Damn.....Highmileage may be rolling in it on this one. I will be sending a set of used 355 belts to him.....I don't need any VW 640 belts. :biggrin:

If flapping was a description used in the initial post, I may have swayed to the speedo cable.

I vote the bet be terminated due to misinformation.

That "640" was not a VW belt. Here is a quote from berserker6 thread on 'found the source of my knock': "The 635 belt is the magic number for the these cars I had all kinds of noises and replaced the stock belt with the 635 one after researching on TB.com."

Gee. I hope I didn't devalue the 640 belt up for grabs.

"Flapping" ?? A flapping grille due to a broken spring?

As stated in the beginning,it's tough to determine the source of a noise via internet.

I'd disconnect the cable at the tranny,and take it for a ride to see if the noise is gone.

 

[GNRick]

Shouldn't be too hard to remove the speedometer. I did mine and put some graphite on the cable. Kept it quiet for a year or two. I need to do mine again. Maybe the sound is the baseball card you put in the spokes? I don't think you could inject graphite into the cable from inside the engine compartment due to the law of gravity. Let us know if you do it successfully.

 

[HighMileage]

If it is the cable,how about removing it from the car. Then invert one end,and dump tranny fluid down it until it comes out the other end?

That's what I do with the cables on my motor-scooter,anyway. It's been years since I last did that.

 

[oc192]

Shouldn't be too hard to remove the speedometer. I did mine and put some graphite on the cable. Kept it quiet for a year or two. I need to do mine again. Maybe the sound is the baseball card you put in the spokes? I don't think you could inject graphite into the cable from inside the engine compartment due to the law of gravity. Let us know if you do it successfully.

Yes, that is pretty close to what I am hearing. Is the sound you hear pretty loud?

 

[notacarlo]

That "640" was not a VW belt.

I thought you were making a reference to an LP640 accessory belt, hence VW.