RE: A couple of odd noises....

[Chuck Simpson <Csimpson@zeltech.com>]

Here are a couple of possibilities.

1st...  could be 'valve ticking'.  I would have suggested a thicker
oil, but it appears that you already run a pretty thick oil (15w50), which
is what I run.  Did you check your oil level recently?  I'm probably way
off since I can't really picture the noise you described.  I figured 'valve
ticking' since the noise is solely based on engine speed, and not vehicle
speed.  If it was based on vehicle speed, I would have suggested CV joints.
So... I have no idea what your 1st noise is.  You might want to jack the car
up, remove the wheel, and visually inspect the area around the
rotor/brakes/axles.

The second noise could be your exhaust.  My old '98 GLX's exhaust had a
tendancy
to fall off of its hanger.  It made some nasty sounds, but only when the
exhaust was
cold.  I would suggest throwing your rear seats down, crawling in the trunk
area 
while someone else is driving.  Hopefully, the clunk sound would happen
while you
were back there.

Sorry I couldn't be much more help.

-Chuck
'97 GTI VR6



-----Original Message-----
From: Nathan Bank [mailto:Nathan.Bank@escusa.com]
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2001 2:07 PM
To: 5280 VW; JettaGLX
Subject: A couple of odd noises....


I took a little drive up to the top of the world yesterday (up to the Great
Divide, 12,095 feet), an
absolutely gorgeous ride and a really nice, winding road :-) and I noticed a
couple of weird noises
on the way back down. First things first, my car is a 96 GLX ODBII system
with a GIAC chip and a
slightly modified airbox, no other real engine mods. I run 1mm larger than
stock plug wires and use
Beru 4-prong plugs. Oil is 15W50 Full Synth Mobil1 with 12oz. Militec-1 in
the mix. Injectors are
cleaned on average once a month with BG44K.

On to the noises. The first noise is a clicking that is most noticeable at
around 2000rpms. Its
about 10 clicks per second, and whenever I was driving by a nice massive
rock wall (lots on
Independence Pass :-) in second gear I could hear it clicking away. It is
entirely engine-speed
based; at 1000rpms its quieter and slower, after 2500rpms the engine noise
itself drowns it out, so
I don't know if it's still there or just quiet. Any ideas on what this is
and what's causing it? Is
this what is considered a knock? I know the elevation wasn't helping...

The second noise is a thumping back in my trunk. All I keep back there is a
little ice scraper, and
I don't think that's what's making the noise, 'cause it only happens maybe
once a day. Just
randomly, thump. Not going over bumps, had the radio off the whole 2 hours
of driving, only happened
the one time. Really odd. Any ideas there?

Thanks!!!

# Nathan
1996 GLX