Cheers everyone,

on my 2004 RAM 5,7 HEMI 4x4 I am having a strange noise coming from what seems to be the passenger side of the engine bay.
It only occurs at idle when in D or R. It goes away when I switch off AC / interior fan and the idle speed goes down.
It also goes away when I shift into N or P.
And it goes away in D or R when I start accelerating.
It sounds like a metal noise, maybe something vibrating?! I thought it was my DIY manifold heat shield, replaced it with a brand new OEM heat shield, but same problem.

Any ideas where to look? Exhaust or something?

Thanks guys!!

 

i had a sound that sound like a heat sheild .. it turned out to be catelist in converter . i only found it by smacking on exsaust .

 

I smacked the exhaust a little bit today, but had no real time to check more, but seemed to be fine though.

But I will try a little more maybe.
Thanks for your help!

 

I did some more research.
It seems it is not something vibrating, but coming from the belt area somewhere.
I tried to check it with an extension as a "stethoscope". Alternator and a/c compressor seem to be fine. Wasn't able to check power steering and water pump because of the fan moving.
Will have to remove the fan and fan clutch and check again maybe.
But the sounds appears and gets louder when, what it seems like, power steering pressure valve engages. Seems like maybe the belt tensioner pulley is noisy. But I changed that one over a few months ago...
Phew...

 

OK guys, I did some testing today:
removed serpentine belt - no noise at all.
Put it back in, noise coming from tensioner area (6 months old "Gates" tensioner!), when I carefully push onto the tensioner from above with a long wrench (trying not to get my upper body amputated from the fan...) the noise nearly goes away completely.
So the nearly new tensioner is shot?!
Or what do you think?

And is it normal that the power steering pulley can be moved back and forth a millimeter or two? It feels solid, no play, but with the belt removed I can push it back and pull it forward a tiny bit. Is that to compensate for a misaligned belt or do I have a broken pump as well?

Thanks guys!

 

yes its normal for there to be a little play in the pully front to back. It shouldn't be able to rock, however.

 

When the pump on my 96 broke, the pulley would stay in place as long as the belt was on.... but, once a pulled the belt, I was able to pull it right out....... The shaft necks down pretty good once inside the pump, 1/4 or 3/8ths diameter..... When it broke, everything "looked" right, but, no power assist at all. That was fun driving back 50 miles, pulling a 16" chipper....... My arms were sore for a week.

 

No rocking at all, feels tight. Also the noise seems really to come from the other side where the tensioner sits.
I also found out, that the tensioner is very close to the end point of tightening the belt. Maybe the belt stretched, too? Making the tensioner hit the end limit?
Ordered a new Mopar tensioner now and a Continental belt.
That Gates stuff is making me trouble every time. Similar problem happened on my Wrangler TJ a few week backs...

 

Its not just gates, everything is crap now-a-days. If it's not OEM it's garbage. And even then the OEM's are outsourcing and selling garbage.

 

Yeah, there are many many bad replacement parts on the market nowadays, that's true. But why do they all get shipped to my adress?