Engine rattle on 98 Toyota Corolla LE

Exhaust manifold heat shield?

Sorry, I'm somewhat ignorant on these things. Where would I find the exhaust manifold / how can I get to it to check?

Mike Harris wrote:

I believe that the sounds you are hearing is normal valvetrain sounds that people often describe as a rattle.

THE RATTLE You give us little clue as to what the source is. It can be a heat shield on the exhaust system, this is common.

THE CHECK LIGHT Your new car is OBD II compliant, this means you can to go Autozone Parts Stores, or (I'm sure) there are others, and they will loan you the tool to gather and reset the codes -- Autozone will actually collect and reset the codes, depending on the state you live in. Using the reader, or watching the Autozone clerk use the reader, is free.

I suggest writing a list of the codes that are displayed, then resetting them, then doing nothing until the Check light comes on again, then addressing the code that is displayed at that time AND displayed on the list you made this time.

The check light can come from any number of sources, none of them being capable of creating a rattle. The point is, you probably have two unrelated problems, and they may not be expensive to repair.

If you gotta ask ...

Jordan, maybe you should simply continue to trust the "mechanic you trust" and believe him when he tells you there's nothing wrong with it.

Better yet, ask him what you asked us. With all due respect, if you know that little about what goes on under the hood of your car you probably aren't going to get a lot of benefit from an alt.autos newsgroup.

-- Mike Harris Austin, TX

I would bet that something outside the engine itself is rattling. The exhaust system is a good place to start looking.

As for the check engine light, you need to have the code read to find out what it really is. I wouldn't be surprised to find it's an EVAP code...

Another person mentioned valve train rattle. I have a '98 Prizm, which has the same engine, and my valve train doesn't rattle, so it wouldn't seem to be normal. Besides that, I'd think that valve train noises would get worse when you give the engine some throttle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It could also be an idler pulley in the region of the timing belt (assuming that there is one, like on my Camry) which goes silent after it heats up.

I'm pretty sure this version of Corolla uses a timing chain.

My 97 has a belt.

Bye, Steve, don't let the door hit you on the way out.