Tapping - Engine Passenger Side

[patdunbarton]

2000 3.8 91,000 miles

Gets faster when the engine speed increases. I think it may be the water pump - bearing going bad. What I am afraid of is it is the timing chain. Anyway to tell and do you think it would be unusual to be the timing chain at 91K?
Tnaks for your help.
Patrick

[LeSabre97mint]

Originally Posted by patdunbarton

2000 3.8 91,000 miles

Gets faster when the engine speed increases. I think it may be the water pump - bearing going bad. What I am afraid of is it is the timing chain. Anyway to tell and do you think it would be unusual to be the timing chain at 91K?
Tnaks for your help.
Patrick

Patrick

If you think it's your water pump remove your serpentine belt and see if the noise goes away. I wouldn't think a timing chain would be bad at 91K. I have 190,000 on the orginal chain.

I had a water pump go on a 3.8 that had a lot of miles on it. It didn't make any noise. The only thing that happened was the bearings went out and this caused the seal to leak. The bearings were so bad the impeller was cutting into the pump housing.

Regards

Dan

[wiswind]

Just to clarify the removal of the serpentine belt....
If the noise is present at idle in the driveway....you can remove the belt....and start the car......does it still make the sound? If not....then it will be something that the belt drives.

You do NOT want to run the car for very long withouth the belt...but a short test will not hurt anything. You will know within a couple of seconds if the sound is gone or not.

The timing chain is not a high failure item. I have 157K miles on my '96 3.8L..... Still have the original timing chain and water pump (knock on wood....and saying a prayer).
Problem is....that there are so many things that can make a sound. There are other things in the engine that are more likely to make noise....but eliminate the stuff with the belt first as they are most likely....and most likely cheaper to take care of.

If things are quiet without the belt.....you can try turning the pulleys to see....the power steering may make some sound....and the water pump may make a slight sound as you turn it. Look carefully at the idler pulley and the tensioner pulley.
I had some sounds in the belt path that were difficult to track down.....as I could not spin things at the same speed / tension as with the engine running. 2 times, it was the alternator, and 1 time it was the idler pulley.

Also....give the belt a good look.....if it has any wear.....or it has been a couple of years.....replace it. The belt can also make a noise. Make sure that there is not any fluid that has leaked onto the belt....or the pulleys.

[LeSabre97mint]

Originally Posted by wiswind

Just to clarify the removal of the serpentine belt....
If the noise is present at idle in the driveway....you can remove the belt....and start the car......does it still make the sound? If not....then it will be something that the belt drives.

You do NOT want to run the car for very long withouth the belt...but a short test will not hurt anything. You will know within a couple of seconds if the sound is gone or not.

The timing chain is not a high failure item. I have 157K miles on my '96 3.8L..... Still have the original timing chain and water pump (knock on wood....and saying a prayer).
Problem is....that there are so many things that can make a sound. There are other things in the engine that are more likely to make noise....but eliminate the stuff with the belt first as they are most likely....and most likely cheaper to take care of.

If things are quiet without the belt.....you can try turning the pulleys to see....the power steering may make some sound....and the water pump may make a slight sound as you turn it. Look carefully at the idler pulley and the tensioner pulley.
I had some sounds in the belt path that were difficult to track down.....as I could not spin things at the same speed / tension as with the engine running. 2 times, it was the alternator, and 1 time it was the idler pulley.

Also....give the belt a good look.....if it has any wear.....or it has been a couple of years.....replace it. The belt can also make a noise. Make sure that there is not any fluid that has leaked onto the belt....or the pulleys.

WisWin

Thanks for filling in the holes for me! I had thought about mentioning not runing it very long....but it slipped my mind ........

Good going.

Patrick

Let us know what you find.

Regards
Dan

[patdunbarton]

Thanks for the help. I will remove the serp belt this weekend. It is almost brand new since I replaced the alternator this spring. I tried the old trick of connecting all my 3/8 socket extensions into a plastic funnell and placing the tip on each potential problem, power steering, AC compressor, water pump etc. to see if I could hear the tapping through my little amplification device. Didn't hear the sound. The only places I really couldn't reach were the bottom two pulleys and the tensioner. So I will check this weekend and let you know what I find.
Thanks.