Rattly Rabbit! :D

[VW Scully]

Hey everyone;
Well, I am new to this forum since I just got back into an old Diesel having recently sold my (too expensive for me ) 2001 TDi.

Now I have had 2 VW Rabbit Diesels before, but I don't remember either of them being so rattly!! The engine runs great, but I fear the car is going to fly apart with the glove box, seat belts, dash all rattling away at certain RPMs and/or when the car is idling.
Any ideas for making it (at least a bit! ) quieter ride!?!?
Thanks!

[jtanguay]

My mechanic put new rings on the engine, and it ran excellent for the first little while, no rattling.   Little while later it just kept getting worse (car feels like its going to shake itself to death)

This car will try to start first turn (with cold start pulled out) but not necessarily start properly  (cold start thanks to a 45 minute timing job)

when the car is cold i notice i have more power.   Once the motor is warmed up it has a lot of trouble and vibrates more under load.  I think my motor is dying.  But she still drives strong on the highway??   Maybe its the cold wintery air going into my car that helps it get up to speed on the on-ramp.

Even when my car is warm it rattles.  Not as bad, but still enough to cause concern.   This can't just be motor mount could it?  I think its loss of compression, bad injectors maybe?

[chrissev]

This car will try to start first turn (with cold start pulled out) but not necessarily start properly  (cold start thanks to a 45 minute timing job)

Don't pull the cold start out until after the engine is running.  Usually you have your hand on the cold start when you are cranking it, and as soon as it kicks over and starts to run, you pull it out.  You never turn the engine over, with the cold start already pulled out.  The car will not start, or will be very hard to start.  

when the car is cold i notice i have more power.   Once the motor is warmed up it has a lot of trouble and vibrates more under load.  I think my motor is dying.  But she still drives strong on the highway??   Maybe its the cold wintery air going into my car that helps it get up to speed on the on-ramp.

cold air is good for an engine.  They don't run as well with warm air.  Hence the attraction of an intercooler.  But with an old NA diesel it shouldn't matter except at high rpms.

[VW Scully]

Hey again;
I will inspect the motor mounts, but I'm not entirely convinced that's the problem; the car actually sounds not bad at all from OUTSIDE; it's inside; the dash, steering wheel, glove box etc. all rattle; most notably at idle, but also at certain RPMs (i.e. 80km/h in 4th gear).
If I increase the idle a bit, it seems to level off. Of course, it's louder at startup when it's cold, but it runs fine just rattly!!

Could it be an exhaust leak or some other leak somewhere?? :| If it sounds fine outside, could it just be the INSIDE that is the problem?
Thanks!

[dieselpower]

hey,
i have an 84 rabbit, along with an 86 scirocco and well, they both have surround sound rattling haha. anyway i think it's just because they are old. my dads old car, a 91 jetta TD, used to rattle a lot too. but he spent a weekend and drove it, then brought it back, took it apart, and put foam in the spaces, or tightend bolts and so on. now it doesnt rattle at all inside. i didn't think my engine mounts were that bad either but when i replaced them about 75% of the rattles went away.

good luck

Mark

[VW Scully]

dieselpower;
hmmmm, that's interesting re. replacing the motor mounts.....
Ok, so now how do you do that?

btw; LOL at 'surround sound rattling' ha ha

[VW Scully]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and I inspected it with my (mechanic) friend today and sure enough we found a broken motor mount! He's fixing it for me next week so hopefully most of the rattles go away after that.

I'll still put weather stripping behind the glove box door though .

[addautomotive]

Be sure to let us know if this solves the problem! Always nice to know if a problem was properly diagnosed... helps everyone here learn.

[addautomotive]

Nothing you can do will prevent a Rabbit diesel from being rattly

Not true! I can get my 87 Jetta with 592 000 kms to not rattle at all... I just turn it off. Other than that, you're right.

[VW Scully]

Not true! I can get my 87 Jetta with 592 000 kms to not rattle at all... I just turn it off. Other than that, you're right.

Bwahahaha
A friend once said; the only quiet VW is one that is off
Anyway, I have had 2 previous Diesel Rabbits and a Mk1 Diesel Jetta and they were NOT this rattly. However, I have some weather stripping for the glove box and other various 'rattly spots' so I'm not expecting a miracle here.

However, fixing the motor mount should at least reduce the shakes to a low clamour .

[v8volvo]

Guess I caught this a little late--but I just wanted to add something. Before you go in and start pulling out gloveboxes and motor mounts, answer me this: if you step on it just a tiny bit to slightly raise the idle, do things improve? My bet is that your idle is just too low. Let these things idle at any less than 750 rpm and they can start to shake things up pretty badly. Try adjusting the throttle-arm stop screw until you've kicked the idle up some; that might take care of all your problems.  

It ends up being a tough balance, because the engine naturally idles faster once it warms up. I'd rather have a slower idle when warm, but if I went any slower than it is now, the car would be almost undriveable when cold for all the shaking and bucking. The later A2 and A3 turbodiesels had a fast-idle system tied in with the cold-start lever on the pump; that makes a lot of sense. I'm working on figuring out a way to set something like that up, or maybe to adapt a fast-idle cam dealy from an old carburetor choke that will adjust itself as the engine warms up. That would be pretty slick.

[VW Scully]

Thanks v8volvo;
but the idle is around 950 so it's already a bit high and we did find a broken motor mount. It is cracked and no longer holding the motor on it, so it's definitley a contributing factor  :shock:
In my other post "Motor Mount frustration" I mention how annoying it is that I have to take off the timing belt to do the mount, but someone had mentioned that as soon as they replaced their mount, there was sustantial improvement so I'm going to do it before the car rattles apart .
Thanks for the ideas though!

[srivett]

You need to set the idle with the engine hot to prevent too high of an idle.

Steve

[VW Scully]

Well, I got the motor mount replaced today: WOW what a difference!!!
Now my car feels like a normal diesel Rabbit again

[RAMMSTEIN]

The rattles diminished? :arrow:  :?: