Hi everybody!

I've been reading this forum since I got my '01 AP1 a few months ago. It's been such a great source of information!

That said, there is an odd noise my car is producing under some strange conditions that I haven't seen in many of the other 'odd noise' threads.


Here's the breakdown:

Whenever I turn the wheel to the right it sounds like there is a noise that ranges from light grinding all the way to sounding like something is loose in the front center of the dash (sounds like around the trans) ONLY when I turn to the right. The harder I'm accelerating the more pronounced/'looser' the noise sounds. The odd thing is though, the sound is ONLY when the car is in gear. When I turn to the right when in neutral there is no sound. When in gear though, even only a slight turn to the right produces the sound.

Here are my guesses so far:
*The engine mounts are worn so when turning to the right it flexes the input into the transmission causing the noise. (170k miles...though I suspect most were commuting)
*There isn't enough trans fluid, which is causing some noises when things aren't perfectly in-line

There's no vibration or any impact on drivability, it just sounds like there is something loose that gets looser under load.

Any ideas?

 

Welcome.

Check out the link in my signature.

 

Welcome! Where in NC are you?

I can't help diagnose your noise...sorry

 

I'm in Chapel Hill! A great location for lots of hilly and twisty roads.

The noise is so odd. It feels like it's almost the steering rack, but I have no idea why being in neutral or not would affect it.

 

Turns out the noise was an allen wrench left under the valve cover from a previous owner!!!

 

nice

 

Under the valve cover or spark plug cover??

 

Welcome, in the Carolina's forum check out the Raleigh C&C, and check the Dragon forum for S2000 meets at the Dragon.