Front end noise after hitting a traffic island.

About 2 weeks ago I hit my Camry (1989, sv21, 3sf-e) on a ~10cm high (shaped like ...-'''') traffic island at maybe 20km/hour. The car came down quite noisily but still run well afterward. When I checked the car in the morning I could see nothing wrong apart from some noise (rattling, clattering kind of noise) from inside the engine, probably along the entire length (not isolated to a single spot.) Around the engine in that general area there seems to be nothing that could rattle. The noise is absent when idling but could be heard from inside the car when rev up moderately (above 1500 rpm?) Can anybody guess what this noise might be? If it's in the engine head (tappet etc.) then I might open it up to have a look. If I have to go past the head gasket then I will just live with it. Apart from the noise the car still drive the same as before the incident.

Reply to
Duong Nguyen
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This actually happened to a girl I know. I lost track of her, I don't know if they yanked her license yet ;)

Take a look at the oil pan! Chances are after the hit the pan either got crushed or moved slightly and the mechanicals are bashing against it.

Reply to
HachiRoku

hmmm, this seems to have happened a LOT in the last few months! :)

It happened to my wife about 3 months ago. She hit a traffic island as well. The suggestion about the oil pan is good, although be aware you may have already had a dent there too. What it was for my wife's car was the flexible coupling on the front exhaust pipe. The front of the exhaust pipe ended up getting hit by the curb and it compressed the flexible connector, damaging it. The symptoms were a rough sounding engine, more apparent when the engine was rev'ed, similar to an exhaust leak (which is what it was of course!).

Inspect the exhaust pipe near this flexible coupling. The front of the exhaust pipe is probably dented in, although most are on older camrys due to other milder collisions. A small dent won't do anything, but a larger one will. The flexible coupling is a section of steel stranded mesh about 6-8 inches long near the centerline of the vehicle directly below the engine. If it looks less than 6-8 inches and/or it appears buldged or distorted where it connects to the solid pipe at either end, it's probably the cause. The whole front exhaust pipe will need to be replaced. A new one will probably set you back $200 plus install, or you can find one at a junk yard for $50-$75 which is what I did. Fairly easy to replace if you know what you are doing.

dave mcd

Reply to
davemac

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