# 04 maxima - intermittent rattle...



## orkan (Nov 21, 2007)

Hi all!

I am having a weird problem on my Maxima... Sometimes when I start the engine - I hear a rattle noise at idle, that disappears when I rev it up to 2k+...

Also, what seems to be a similar sound, appears very reliably at 2.5k RPM when accelerating (but not when cruising)... And disapears lower than ~2.3 RPM or higher than 2.7k RPM (very narrow range).

I recorded 3 files:

Normal start: http://syrota.com/maxima/normal-start.wma
Rattle after start with closed hood: http://syrota.com/maxima/rattle-closed-hood.wma
Close up under the hood: http://syrota.com/maxima/rattle-closeup.wma
(Pardon the quality...)

I checked drive belt tensioner and surroundings, and everything seems to be in normal condition, nothing loose, or anything like that. In addition, I did not see a correlation between rattle sounds and vibrations in that part...

Looking under the hood, the sound appears to be coming from about the area of power steering pump pulley, or somewhere above/closer to front of the engine block.

I did not take it to the $tealer$hip yet... Wanted to see if I can figure something out myself, or if not - go there as prepared as I can be...

Anyone experienced something similar?

Thanks for the help!


----------



## PbLead (Aug 8, 2009)

Oh boy are you in for a world of hurt. Sit down... It sounds like the primary timing chain guide has broken. To confirm, make sure the engine is cold, pull out the power steering resevoir, and the washer resevoir. There is a black triangular cover on the engine, it's held on by 3 10mm bolts. Take them out with a wrench or ratchet or what ever you can get in there. Knock the plate off with a long flat head screw driver or what ever will fit. Then take a flashlight and look at the tensioner. If the tensioner is fully extended and sitting ON TOP of the little ledge the guide is broken and needs to be replaced. You have to pull the main timing cover off to replace it and it's no small ordeal. To put the inspection cover back on, clean the gasket from the grooves on the aluminum cover (scrape it out), clean the gasket from the inspection cover, put new gasket on the timing cover with your finger, (the grey stuff works the best), then bolt the cover back on and reassemble.


----------

